


What an Honor. What an Injustice.

by ownedbythestars (ljrvs)



Series: Linked by the Universe [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, BAMF Jessika Pava, BAMF Poe Dameron, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Dialogue Heavy, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Kidnapping, Linked By The Universe, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of Slavery, Pilot Jessika Pava, Pilot Poe Dameron, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Protective Jessika Pava, Race Against Time, Ransom Demand, Series, Strong Female Characters, Women Being Awesome, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 71,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ljrvs/pseuds/ownedbythestars
Summary: “Jessika, I’m sorry. Thirty years ago..." Organa sighed and brought a hand to her forehead. "Thirty years ago, I fought a war to create a universe that should have protected you. But we failed. And now you have been asked to protect it instead.”“What an honor,” Jess said.Organa scoffed. “What an injustice.”---Months have passed since Crait and the Resistance is clinging to existence by little more than sheer will and the good graces of a small but loyal group of allies. When one of their own is taken to be used as leverage against an ally, Black Squadron will stop at nothing to get them back.It's a race against time and across the Outer Rim for the members of Black Squadron to save one of their own—and the Resistance.---Regularly updated (every 3-5 days).
Relationships: Finn & Black Squadron, Finn & Jessika Pava, Jessika Pava & Black Squadron, Karé Kun & Jessika Pava, Niv Lek & Jessika Pava, Poe Dameron & Black Squadron, Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron & Jessika Pava, Poe Dameron & Karé Kun & Jessika Pava & Temmin "Snap" Wexley
Series: Linked by the Universe [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658350
Comments: 50
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is taken from 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

Hypori wasn’t anyone’s favorite planet. 

To be fair, it wasn’t that there was anything particularly _terrible_ about it so much as there wasn’t anything _great_ about it, either. The awful parts of the planet were balanced by the positive points of the planet, leaving it solidly in the middle ground of public opinion. The older members of the Resistance who had been around for Hoth swore that it was a resort planet by comparison. The younger recruits weren’t so sure about that.

Hypori was small and insignificant and supported no sentient life. Even the flora and fauna were minimal, which would have made the Resistance susceptible to deep-space lifeform scans if the hydrothermal properties of the planet didn’t cloak their heat signatures. It was the one good thing the planet provided. The planet’s surface was made up of large plains of jagged rock with oceans that were so hot, they were nearly boiling and produced constant steam. Everyone in the Resistance cursed the steam: it reacted with the atmosphere and covered the planet in a thick haze at all times. For some of the ground crew, it had been over two months since they’d seen a sun. Being outside of the base was a terrible mix of being too hot and too cold at the same time, so more often than not, they were stuck indoors. 

The weather, while miserable, wasn’t the worst part of the steam. When the hot steam rose from the oceans, it was blown by the cold wind into their base and into their electronics. The combination of the hot vapor and cold air was constantly screwing up their droids, equipment, and even some of the older ships that were lined up on the outdoor landing pad. Not that there were many other places to land them. They had a hangar, but it was typically filled with ships in need of repair or ships that were in constant use. And other places to land on the rocky surface of the planet were few and far between. Erecting a new structure to store their ships in was out of the question: it would draw too much attention to the supposedly barren planet. Plus, they didn’t have the money for it.

Money was another major factor in the General’s choice of Hypori. They were still recovering from Crait in many ways, but one of the biggest struggles was a lack of funding. A planet that didn’t have a sentient species meant that no one needed to be paid for use of their land or bribed into silence, and that was a bonus for them. But the priority concern was their fuel shortage. Fuel was expensive and they were running low. A small amount was being held in reserve for an emergency escape if needed, but otherwise, they were in a constant state of shortage. _When_ they sent ships out, they were flying light every time. The pilots tried to limit excess weight in the cargo holds as much as possible to stretch the fuel as far as they could, sometimes flying without emergency gear or repair equipment to bring the weight of their ship down. No one liked the idea of a pilot being stuck without the proper supplies, but no one stopped them from doing it, either. The time between supply runs was stretched as far as they could manage, which meant that there were times when they wouldn’t get new supplies for weeks. 

The lack of fuel meant that the Resistance was effectively grounded: pilots couldn’t go out on runs, ground troops couldn’t get dropped in anywhere. They were stuck. And in that time, people had run the gambit of coping mechanisms: hyper-productivity, apathy, complete despondence, insomnia, bouts of depression and despair, extreme boredom, high tensions that led to loud arguments, distractions of all kinds—films, novels, sex, anything that they could find that would occupy their mind for a while—and, eventually, extreme competency. Every piece of equipment that they still had had been disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled numerous times and was in better working condition than it had been when they’d received it. Anyone who even had the potential to go out in the field had learned how to hotwire a comm unit. And there wasn’t a person on base who couldn’t field strip and reassemble their blaster in under thirty seconds. 

So Hypori was water and steam and rock. And that was about it. 

Normally, such a barren planet with hydrothermal properties would be an asset—a way to hide in plain view—but unfortunately for them, the rocky ground had proven to be dense with minerals. While the minerals were helpful to the Resistance and gave them something to trade with, they also posed a serious risk: the presence of valuable minerals meant that Hypori had the potential to draw the attention of the First Order.

But it was the best they could do. The surviving Resistance had taken up residence in the remnants of an old Imperial weapons development facility—the irony wasn’t lost on anyone—while they looked for a more permanent base. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close to sympathizers on Ryloth and it had no First Order presence. Plus, the facility itself had a landing pad, a hangar, enhanced security features, was easily defensible, and enough sleeping and cooking space for them, so it would do for now. 

The change from the hot and humid jungles of D’Qar to the jagged and cold plains of Hypori wasn’t the only adjustment the Resistance had been forced to make, though. After Crait, Organa was doing everything in her power to bring support to their side—the General had sworn that if they were going to lose this war, it wouldn’t be because of lack of funding. (Jess was pretty sure that if the war could be fought and funded entirely by Organa’s passion for galactic democracy, they would have won by now.) Because of Organa’s efforts, visiting dignitaries were not unusual on Hypori. But just because they weren’t unusual didn’t make it comfortable. Everyone knew it was a temporary base, but having strangers around put them on edge. There was too much of an opportunity for them to be betrayed.

General Organa knew the presence of these dignitaries made everyone uncomfortable, but there was little she could do about it. They all recognized that the General was in a tight spot and that there was a fine line between wooing potential allies to find funding for the war and keeping their people safe. It had always been a difficult balance, but it was especially challenging now while they were still recovering from heavy losses. The Resistance fighters trusted and respected General Organa, though, and so they didn’t protest the visitors to their base.

Normally, Jess ignored the dignitaries. She didn’t care for power or fame and she certainly wasn’t one for politics (Poe had once called her too quick on the trigger for negotiations). Honestly: the fewer people who knew her face, the better. Compared to the rest of Black Squadron, Jess was a nobody. Poe was very well known for being the Fleet’s poster boy, Iolo and Karé were also both known (to a lesser extent) for their time in the NRDF, and Niv’s family was a part of the ruling class on Corulag, so his identity was well known—at least in some circles. Even Snap was at least vaguely recognizable due to being photographed with his well-known parents and for being a part of Phantom Squadron during the Battle of Jakku. Everyone loved a sixteen-year-old hero. Jess, by comparison, had been rarely photographed. She hadn’t been with the NRDF long enough for anyone outside of the organization to take serious note of her career and there was no fame or connection associated with the Pava family name. Which suited Jess just fine—it meant she was perfect for covert missions or occasional intelligence operations. Spying wasn’t technically part of her job, but she wouldn’t split hairs about it. 

There was one dignitary, though, that Jess couldn’t ignore. 

Apparatchik Vic Fallor from Ord Mantell had arrived on base with a large entourage of aides, advisors, and guards, and had walked through the base as if he owned it. He wore extravagant clothing in bright colors that were completely unfitting to their setting and that Niv had said likely cost more than most of their X-Wings. To Jess’s knowledge, the man hadn’t given a credit to their cause and was only here because, in Jess’s opinion: he knew that they were getting pretty close to desperate for allies and he seemed like the kind of man to smell blood in the water. Jess didn’t like him.

Her dislike of the man wasn’t singular to her, either. In fact, he thoroughly pissed off almost everyone. Most of the remaining Resistance fighters avoided him if at all possible and, if not possible, limited their interaction. He treated most of the Resistance as if they were lower than him and existed only to serve his needs. He only deferred in the slightest to General Organa. 

The pilots, in particular, hated him. The Apparatchik would come into the hangar and make rude remarks about the state of their ships and their maintenance efforts. Snide comments about ‘those who work with their hands’ were muttered under his breath and he was always looking down on the work being done—as if working on their own ships was shameful. Karé had called him a pompous ass, and Rik Saren had called him something in Ryl that Jess had only heard him mutter in the cockpit when things went really wrong. 

But that wasn’t what made Jess dislike him. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what bothered her about the man: both Karé and Rik Saren were correct in their assessments, and he _did_ have a major superiority complex, but that wasn’t anything Jess hadn’t dealt with before. No, this was something else. Something more complicated. Something…evil. 

Growing up how she had, Jess had learned to trust her instincts about people. Once she’d bought her way to freedom, she’d rarely been wrong about which people were good and who she could or couldn’t trust—or at least, who she could trust _enough_. And nothing about Apparatchik Vic Fallor felt good or trustworthy. 

Her point was proven a few days into the Apparatchik’s stay. 

In the past week, two new recruits had been assigned to Blue Squadron and three more were assigned to Dagger Squadron. And Jess was swamped. She wasn’t typically one to complain, and the arrival of five new pilots was definitely good news—Force knew they needed the additional support—but the extra datawork of onboarding five newbies was not Jess’s thing. Normally, Iolo would do the datawork for Dagger and she’d shove the datawork for Blue Squadron off on Poe in exchange for some Corellian whiskey. But both Iolo and Poe were off-planet on some top-secret recon mission and so she had to do it all herself. 

She was on her way to meet Niv for lunch when she stopped to add something to one of the files. She was standing just outside the mess when the door slid open and someone rushed out. They collided with her, knocking the datapads she’d been working on to the ground. 

“Kriff,” Jess hissed, dropping to her knees to pick up the scattered datapads and sheets of flimsi. “Watch where you’re going,” she muttered. 

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the young human said, kneeling to help her gather her dropped supplies. 

Something about the tone of the voice made Jess pause and look up. It was the Apparatchik’s assistant—a skinny kid just on the cusp of adulthood. He had long and gangly limbs, dark hair and eyes, tan skin, and an accent she couldn’t quite place. And he was terrified. She could see it in the lines of his shoulders and his dark eyes—she knew that kind of fear.

Jess took a deep breath and calmed her nerves—she had a suspicion that this kid had more than enough to deal with and she didn’t need to add to it. “I’m sorry. It was totally my bad, I stopped in a doorway. My head’s still in my cockpit half the time,” Jess said, picking up the last sheets of flimsi. “What’s your name?” she asked as they both stood up.

“Darban, ma’am,” he said, handing Jess the datapads.

“Darban. Good to meet you. I’m Jessika Pava, or just Jess,” she introduced herself. “Where you from, Darban?”

“I’m from Fest originally.” _Well, that explains the accent,_ Jess thought. “But I have lived on Ord Mantell since I was a child,” he said and unconsciously moved his hand to his forearm. Jess narrowed her eyes at the action—she knew that movement well.

“Ah, so you’re here with the Apparatchik?” Jess asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, a look of nervousness crossed over his face at the mention of the other man. “I should get back to him. Did you see which way he went?” He turned to look down the corridor, exposing the back of his neck to Jess. She almost gasped: just below his hairline, nearly covered by the collar of his shirt, a brand had been burnt into the boy’s skin. Jess didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before: though less common than a tattoo, the brand was a slave’s mark. Her stomach clenched: she’d been right. No wonder she hadn’t liked Fallor: he was a slave owner.

“Uh, no…” she said, trying to find her voice again. “Sorry…I…uh…I haven’t seen him.” 

“Darban!” A voice barked from down the hall. The young man jumped and turned towards the voice. Apparatchik Fallor stood there, dressed in an ostentatious bright green suit, glaring at the young man. 

“Coming, Sir,” Darban said, running down the hall to him. When he reached the Apparatchik, the man grabbed his shoulder and shoved him against a wall.

“Where were you?” he hissed.

“He was helping me,” Jess said before Darban could answer. Fallor looked towards her, surprised. Either he’d forgotten she was there or he didn’t know anyone who had the audacity to stand up to him. “I slipped and fell. I knocked my head on the wall on my way down. Your _assistant_ stopped to make sure I was alright and to help gather my things.” She held the Apparatchik’s gaze, daring him to question her. 

The door to the mess opened again and Niv stepped out. 

“There you are, Pava,” Niv said. “Was wondering where you were.” 

“I’ll be right there,” Jess said, not looking away from Fallor.

Niv looked back and forth between Jess and the Apparatchik. 

“Is everything alright here?” Niv asked cautiously, feeling the tension in the hallway. 

“We’re fine. I was just telling the Apparatchik here that his assistant was helping me after I fell,” Jess said, her eyes still locked on Fallor.

Fallor turned back to Darban. “Is that true?” he growled.

Darban glanced towards Jess—who gave him the tiniest nod—before he looked back to Fallor. 

“Yes, Sir,” he said. “I was on my way to you when I saw her fall. I wanted to make sure she was alright.” 

“So it sounds like everything’s fine,” Niv said. “You should clear the hallway.” 

The Apparatchik glanced at Niv before he looked back to Darban with narrowed eyes. It was obvious that he didn’t believe what he was being told. 

“Very well,” Fallor said, still suspicious. He let go of the younger man’s shoulder and turned to Niv. His brow furrowed as he stepped towards the pilot as if he was trying to remember something.

“Can I help you, sir?” Niv asked uneasily.

“You’re Lita and Tiran Lek’s son, aren’t you?” Fallor asked. “From Corulag?”

“I am,” Niv confirmed. 

“I knew it. I never forget a face,” the Apparatchik said with an oily grin. “What’s your name again? Nik? Nils?” 

“Niv, sir,” Niv replied. “How do you know the Magistrate and my father?” 

“We’ve met through our work. I met you, too, once. You were…ten, maybe eleven.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember that,” Niv said. Jess glanced over at him. He was standing with his spine straight and his eyes locked on the Apparatchik. Jess could feel the discomfort coming off of him in waves.

“Why would you? You were a child,” the Appartchik said. “Last I heard you were with the NRDF.” 

“The NRDF doesn’t exist anymore,” Niv said tightly. 

“Ah. Well,” the Apparatchik clapped his hands, “sometimes these things happen. Do greet your mother for me the next time you speak. You,” he said, turning to Darban, “come with me.” He turned and strode down the hall. Darban looked timidly back at Jess and Niv before turning and following behind the Apparatchik. 

“You ok?” Niv asked softly. 

“I’m fine, Lek. I don’t need you defending me,” Jess said. She frowned as she watched the Apparatchik and Darban walk away. 

“Whoa, Jess—”

“Wait,” Jess said quietly, her eyes still fixed on the Ord Mantellans. As soon as they were out of earshot, she rounded on Niv.

“What the hell, Lek? You know that jackass?” she asked incredulously.

“Step off, Pava. You heard what he said: he knows my mother. And I maybe met him, like, fourteen years ago. I met a lot of people because of Mom’s work when I was a kid—but I don’t remember most of them. I for sure don’t remember him. Pava, I swear: I don’t know him,” Niv defended himself. “What’s going on with you?” 

Jess forced herself to take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Niv. It’s not you, it’s me. You didn’t deserve that. It’s just…you know what? Never mind. It’s nothing. Forget about it. Forget what I said. Sorry. We good?”

Niv nodded. “We’re good. Come on, let’s get some food.” 

Jess stared down the hall that Fallor and Darban had disappeared down. They hadn’t set up the security cameras for the base, so she didn’t have proof to do anything about what she'd just witnessed (and that Niv had missed) or what she suspected. But an itch was crawling up her spine—the physical manifestation of her mental discomfort. She sighed and tried to reason her way around what she’d seen. Maybe the brand was an old mark—maybe he’d been freed and now she was overthinking it. Maybe the Apparatchik was…expressing concern…or something for Darban when he’d demanded to know where the younger man had been. Maybe. But she didn’t believe it. The knot in her stomach told her not to let this go.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jess said and followed Niv back into the mess. 

Over the next few days, Jess watched how Fallor interacted with Darban, waiting for her suspicions to be confirmed beyond a doubt. If she saw or heard something concrete, she could do something about it, but so far, she still only had her suspicions. Now that she knew what to look for, though, Jess could see that the Apparatchik was rougher with the young man than he was with his other aides. He never went so far as to leave a mark—at least, not in public and not a visible one, but Jess was sure that he had left plenty of marks on the younger man over time. It was obvious to her how Darban flinched away and made himself smaller around the older man. She noticed how Fallor went out of his way to make things more difficult for Darban and how he used force when none was necessary. He would humiliate the young man at every opportunity, ridiculing him for his foolishness or ineptitude when he had done nothing wrong. 

It wasn’t just the Apparatchik, either. Jess had watched how the guards and other advisors would partake in the abuse and how Fallor would do nothing to stop it. 

They were careful, though—they never did anything that would draw attention to what they were doing to Darban. At least, they didn’t do anything that someone else would notice if they weren’t already looking. That meant that Jess couldn’t do anything, either. Because even though she was looking and knew what she saw, she couldn’t do anything about something that no one else saw. 

And unfortunately, being a dick wasn’t enough reason for her to go to Organa or Command. Otherwise, everyone would have reported him by now.

But by the third day, Jess couldn’t take it anymore. She was itching to react—practically begging the Universe for the opportunity to do something about Vic Fallor. 

She had her chance to act later that day. 

She and Finn were eating dinner together when she saw the Apparatchik come into the mess, dressed in an oversized cobalt robe with his entourage following behind him. The only open table in the mess was across the aisle from Jess and Finn, giving them a front-row view of the Ord Mantellans.

“I hate that guy,” Finn muttered around bites of his dinner. “Who travels with nine guards and aides?” 

“The Emperor?” Jess offered. “Kylo Ren? Doesn’t he have like, five guys he travels around with?” 

“Six. And don’t even joke,” Finn rolled his eyes. “He’s such a dick.”

“Which one: the Emperor or Ren? Or the Apparatchik?” Jess said with a smirk.

“All of the above. But right now, I’m talking about the Apparatchik. There’s something about him I just don’t like. He’s just…”

“A dick?”

Finn snorted. “Yeah. A dick.” 

“You don’t know the half of it,” Jess replied, ignoring her own food to watch what happened at the next table over. The ten visitors settled in before Fallor kicked Darban’s chair.

“What do you think you’re doing? Go get us dinner,” the Apparatchik ordered. “Why do I keep you around if you’re not going to be useful?” The other men at the table laughed. 

“Yes, Apparatchik,” Darban nodded and left the table, leaving the laughing men behind. 

“See if they have something edible this time!” Fallor shouted after Darban. “The food they’ve given us here has been moderately edible at best.” 

The entourage laughed at the Apparatchik’s snark.

“How long until they’re gone?” Finn asked, frowning down at his meal. 

“I wish I knew. I think we’re all ready for them to be gone,” Jess said, her tone distracted. Finn looked up.

“What is it?” he asked, putting his fork down.

“Something’s wrong,” Jess said. “I don’t know what, but…something’s gonna happen. I can feel it.” 

Finn followed Jess’s gaze to the young man walking back across the mess with two trays, five plates carefully balanced on each one.

“What do you think is gonna happen?” Finn whispered.

“I don’t know—figure I’ll just keep watching and I’ll know when it does,” Jess answered, still watching Darban. 

As he was nearing the table, one of the Apparatchik’s guards stuck out his foot, tripping the young man. He fell on his face, the trays hit the floor a second later and the plates of food scattered across the floor. The Apparatchik’s table burst out in raucous laughter. 

The rest of the room went silent and all eyes turned towards the noise.

Immediately, Jess and Finn were out of their seats and on the floor to help Darban. 

“You ok, man?” Finn asked, helping the young man up off the floor.

“I’m fine, Sir. Nothing but a few bruises and some embarrassment. I’m sorry for making a mess. And for wasting your food,” Darban said quietly, glancing up at Finn. 

“It’s fine,” Jess said as she collected the dishes. They didn’t really have the food to waste, but that didn’t matter right now. “We’ll get you more.” 

Fallor hadn’t moved from his seat, watching the scene play out before him. “Clean it up, Darban,” Fallor ordered.

“We’ll get a service droid,” Finn said, helping Darban to his feet.

“No. I told him to do it,” Fallor said with narrowed eyes. “Do it, Darban.” 

“Yes, Apparatchik,” Darban said with a nod and started to sink back to the ground. 

Finn frowned and stopped him. “What are you doing?” he asked quietly.

“Following orders,” the younger man replied.

“No. Belie that order,” Jess said, looking at Darban. “You don’t have to do that.” 

“Yes, he does,” Fallor said. “He needs to follow my orders.” 

The itch was back, crawling up Jess’s spine. 

“Maybe you should have your men treat your _assistant_ with a little more respect,” Jess snapped as she slammed the tray of dishes onto the table and waved a service droid over to clean up the mess. She whipped around to face the table of Ord Mantellans. “Then maybe you wouldn’t feel like you have to give such asinine orders to feel like you have power.” 

The Apparatchik glowered. “What’s your name, pilot?” Fallor demanded. 

“Captain Jessika Pava, what’s it to you?” she snapped back. 

“Don’t you know who I am?” 

“Apparatchik Vic Fallor. Are you someone important I should know?” Jess asked innocently. “I have to tell you, I’m not really into politics.”

“I’ll be reporting you to your General,” he threatened, his eyes furious. 

Jess laughed. “Oh, please do. She won’t be surprised. Be sure to spell my name right in your complaint, though. I think the last guy misspelled it and that’s just so embarrassing. I mean, if you’re gonna complain, at least do it the right way. It’s Jessika with a ‘K’, not a ‘C.’ But the General’s in a meeting now, so in the meantime, why don’t you go get your own meal and leave Darban be? I think he’s already had to deal with enough of your bullshit today.” She picked up the trays and plates and started to return them to the kitchen.

“You should learn to respect your betters, Jessika Pava,” Fallor sneered to her back.

Jess paused. She’d been waiting for a moment to do something about Fallor and now, the moment had presented itself to her. She glanced at Finn and Darban. 

“Don’t do it, Jess,” Finn whispered, catching her gaze. “Stand down. He’s not worth it.” 

Jess winked at Finn before she set the tray back down and turned to face the Ord Mantellan. She sized him up quickly and knew what to say to hit him where it would hurt. 

“And why is that?” Jess asked, ignoring Finn’s warning and stepping forward until she was almost toe to toe with the man. “Why should I learn to respect some pompous and egotistical sithspawn with an overinflated sense of value if he’s not going to respect anyone else? And why should _he_ follow your despotic orders when there is a simpler solution? What will you do to him if he disobeys you?” Jess said, jerking her thumb back at Darban. 

She stepped even closer to the Apparatchik. Fallor stood nearly a foot taller than Jess, but she refused to back down. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited, daring him to respond. 

“You think you know so much,” Fallor laughed.

Jess quirked an eyebrow. “I know enough.”

“Like?” 

“Like I know that you wear such ridiculous clothing to draw attention to yourself and to try and elevate your perceived status in the Core—which _none_ of us care about,” she said. A few chuckles that were quickly disguised as coughs echoed around the room. “And I know that Darban’s not your assistant,” she said softly. “But you know that General Organa won’t approve of the truth.” 

“What truth?” Fallor laughed.

“That he’s your slave,” Jess said, her voice quiet and dangerous. 

Fallor’s self-assured smirk faltered. “You can’t prove anything.” 

Jess stared into the man’s eyes. He was nervous. _Good,_ Jess thought with a smirk. 

“You have no idea what I can prove. But you know what I can see. You expect him to follow your ridiculous orders despite simpler alternatives being available simply because you want to exercise total power over someone. You get off on that kind of power, don’t you? And because of that, you can’t stand the idea of having someone tell you no. So you got a slave that you can punish if they disobey you,” she whispered. Her voice was so quiet that she knew no one else could hear her, but she was certain that Fallor could hear every word. “It’s about control, right? I know all about needing to be in control. And you can’t stand to _not_ be in control, can you? But nor can you bear to show that kind of weakness. At least, not in front of your lackies over there. And it’s not because you’re unique or special or justified or whatever other feeble reason you’ve convinced yourself of. It’s for the same reason that anyone does this kind of bullshit.” 

“And what reason is that?” Fallor hissed.

“It’s because pathetic men like you take out your insecurities on those who can’t rise up against you. And you do it with such ruthlessness that no one questions it or stands up to you about it. All because you know that you can’t let anyone see that the pitiful excuse for power that you try and wield over others is for nothing more than show. You’re a pretender. A fraud. You have no real power and now you’re scared because I can see through your act and _I know the truth about you_.”

The mess was silent around them: everyone was watching Jess stare down the Apparatchik. Even if they couldn’t hear what she was saying, anyone who’d been around the Resistance for more than a week knew that look and knew that they didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. Jess had a dangerously sharp tongue and the rest of the room knew that the Apparatchik didn’t have a clue as to what he was up against. 

From the corner of her eye, Jess saw Rik Saren, Niv, Snap, and Karé near the door, clearly unsure of what they had just walked into. Snap started to step forward to back Jess up, but Karé stopped him, letting Jess handle the situation on her own. As if Karé knew that Jess could see her, she kept her eyes trained on Jess and gave a brief nod—a promise that if things went down, they’d be there for her.

Jess waited, practically able to watch her words worming their way under Fallor’s skin to find their target. She could see the moment when her words registered in his mind and hit their mark. 

Fallor’s face burned crimson with rage. “You insolent, pathetic, little maggot!" he screamed, stepping towards the pilot and crowding her space. “I’ll teach you the meaning of respect, you worthless—”

Jess had heard enough. She took half a step back, squared her shoulders, cocked her fist, and punched the man in the face. 

_Maybe Poe’s right_ , she thought belatedly, _maybe I am too quick on the trigger for political negotiations._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! We're back for another Jess and Poe adventure! 
> 
> Resistance Era Jess is fun to write. She's very different than Academy-Era, but I hope you feel like she has the same essence, just in a much better place. 
> 
> Honestly, I came super close to posting this on the 6th because...reasons and I wanted to put something good out into the world. But I waited and now I'm glad I did because I think you're getting a more polished story for that call. 
> 
> I'd say 'this will be shorter', but I can't tell anymore. I think it will be, but if we're at 100k again, I won't exactly be surprised.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and Kudos make my day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is taken from 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

Usually, when Poe landed, at least Jess and/or Finn would be waiting for him. Often Rey was there. And sometimes most of Black Squadron would be there, too. So when he touched down and no one was on the landing pad, he knew something was up.

His initial response was panic, wondering what had happened while he’d been gone. A quick glance around told him that all ships were present and accounted for except for the _Falcon_ , which Chewbacca and Rey had taken out on some long-term mission before he’d left. Jedi stuff, he was pretty sure. His heart rate began to slow down when he realized it was unlikely that they were hurt or worse.

“Welcome back, Commander,” one of the ground crew greeted, pulling him back to the present. 

“Thanks,” Poe smiled as he climbed down the ladder. “Can you—”

“I’ll get her taken care of,” the crewman said. “Give her a good once-over. How’d those adjustments work out for you? Any problems?”

“Na, she flew great. Thanks for your help with those,” he said, pulling off his gloves and helmet. “Hey, have you seen Finn or Pava?” 

The man chuckled. “I think they’re in the mess. Pava’s a bit of a hero right now.”

“What do you mean?” 

The man laughed again. “You should ask her. I’ll get your ship taken care of, Commander.” 

Poe furrowed his brow bemusedly. “Thanks,” he said slowly before making his way off the landing pad and into the base. 

As he made his way through the halls, he heard bits of conversation as he passed. 

“Can’t believe she did that—” 

“Did you see what happened?”

“—didn’t know Pava could punch like that—" 

“Are you surprised? He totally had it coming.”

“—too bad you missed it.” 

“She fuckin’ _leveled_ him.” 

“—deserved it. He’s an ass—”

“Think the General knows?”

Poe frowned. 

“Hey, Poe! Welcome back!” Rik Saren greeted. 

“Rik, hey,” Poe said, grabbing the Tolian Twi’lek’s hand. 

“Good flight?”

Poe shrugged. “Good enough. Didn’t get all of what I was after, but I got enough. The General will be happy.” 

“Get any fuel?” Rik asked hopefully.

Poe nodded. “Arranged a drop. We’ll get a tanker blind-dropped near Ryloth next week and we can go pick it up.”

“Near Ryloth, eh? So I’m guessing I’ll be heading that one up?” Rik grinned.

“Probably, yeah,” Poe agreed. “Less suspicious to have a Twi’lek flying a tanker in Twi’lek space.”

“How much did you get?”

Poe sighed. “Not as much as we hoped for, but way more than we have now.”

“That’s good news. Force knows we need good news,” Rik said. 

“Don’t we, though,” Poe sighed and ran a hand through his messy curls. “Hey, Rik, can I ask you a question?” 

“Of course,” Rik said, tossing his lekku over his shoulder. “What’s up?”

“I keep hearing things about Pava?” 

Rik chuckled. “Oh, yeah. That’s…” he sighed. His lekku twitched as he tried to figure out the words he wanted to say. “You should just talk to Pava.” 

“I’d like to know what I’m walking into before I do that,” Poe said.

Rik tilted his head. “Fair enough. You know that Apparatchik from Ord Mantell that’s been around?”

“Yeah. Kind of a jerk, right?”

“He’s a total _chi’kan eswa_ ,” Rik said.

“Language, Major,” Poe laughed.

Rik pretended to consider his words for a second. “I stand by it. Anyway, Pava apparently feels the same. And she shared her opinion—forcefully.” 

Poe groaned. He’d heard enough. “Please say that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

“What do you think it means?” Rik asked with a smirk.

“Based on what I’ve heard: she decked him, didn’t she?” 

Rik laughed. “Yeah. And it was beautiful. Haven’t seen her drop someone like that in ages.” 

Poe groaned. “Does Organa know yet?” 

“Not sure. Pava’s not in the brig, so…” he shrugged. “But Organa knows most things that happen on base. So if she doesn’t know by now, she will soon.”

“Pava still in the mess?”

“With Finn and Lek. Last I saw.” 

“Great,” Poe sighed. “I don’t even get to shower before I deal with this, do I?”

“She's Pava. You think she’s gonna give you downtime?” 

“Has she ever?” Poe grinned. “Gotta love her for it, though, right?” 

“Gotta,” Rik agreed. 

“Ugh,” Poe groaned. “Alright. Let’s see the damage.” 

“See you later, Poe,” Rik said. “Good luck!” 

“Thanks,” Poe rolled his eyes and continued down the hall to the mess. 

As soon as he walked in, it was easy to find Jess. Not only was she sitting at her usual table with Niv and Finn, but everyone else in the room was trying not to stare at her. Most of them were failing at their endeavor. 

“I’m off-planet for less than a week and I come back to rumors about you?” Poe said as he sat down across from Jess expectantly. Finn looked between the two of them, clearly debating if he should give them privacy or if he should stay and see how this went. Niv, on the other hand, just sipped his caf—happy to wait out whatever was about to happen between Jess and Poe. 

“Should we…go?” Finn whispered.

“And miss this? Absolutely not,” Niv grinned. This wasn’t the first time he’d been present for one of their arguments. “These tend to get exciting.” 

“Hey, Boss, you’re back early. Welcome home. Good mission?” Jess asked, ignoring his question. 

“Don’t avoid the question, Pava,” Poe said.

“Not sure what you’re talking about,” Jess said, taking a bite of her breakfast.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Please tell me they’re not true.”

“Still drawing a blank,” Jess said with a tilt of her head. “Do any of you need some caf? I think I could definitely use some more caf.” 

“Jessika Marie Pava, don’t you dare get up from this table. So they’re true?”

“Marie isn’t my middle name,” Jess replied. “And like I said, Boss, you’re gonna have to be a _little_ more specific than that. Which rumors are you concerned are true?”

Poe groaned. Jess was being evasive on purpose. “Not gonna make this easy, are you?”

Jess shrugged. “I have a right to maintain my silence in order to avoid self-incrimination.”

“NRDF statutes don’t apply anymore, Jess,” Poe grumbled. “What happened with you and the Apparatchik?”

“Oh. That.”

“Yeah. _That._ ”

“What exactly have you heard?”

“I heard that you had a physical altercation with him,” Poe said flatly.

Finn snorted. Niv looked deeply interested in the contents of his mug of caf. 

Jess was unphased. “That makes it sound unprovoked. I would call it an…aggressive moral debate,” she smirked. 

Poe groaned. “Jess, you punched him in the face.”

“More than once,” Niv said with a grin. A look from Poe had Niv explaining. “Look, I’m not saying she should have done it, but the guy’s a jerk. She just did what everyone else wanted to.”

“Testor, are you _serious_?” Poe groaned and dropped his forehead to the table.

“I’m not going to apologize,” she said, sipping her caf. “And you’re being dramatic.”

Poe groaned again. He lifted his head so his chin was on the table and he could look up at Jess. “I’m not gonna make you apologize…I just…ugh…what I want to know is why?”

Jess’s face became solemn. She sat her caf down and looked around the mess until she found who she was looking for. “That man,” she said, nodding towards the line. Poe sat up and followed Jess’s gaze. She was looking at a young man that Poe vaguely recognized collecting breakfast items on his tray. “See him?”

“Isn’t he the Apparatchik’s assistant? What about him?” Poe asked.

“His name’s Darban. And he’s a slave.”

Poe and Finn exchanged a look and Niv sat up straighter. “Are you sure?” Poe asked.

“You didn’t say that last night,” Niv whispered. 

“There’s a brand on the back of his neck,” Jess glowered. “I saw it a few days ago. It’s not even in a place he can cover it.” 

“Does General Organa know?” Poe asked.

“That he’s a slave or that I punched the Apparatchik?” 

Poe sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Either. Both.” 

“I doubt it,” Jess inhaled deeply. “She hasn’t sent anyone to bring me to her to be court-martialed yet, so I don’t think she knows that I hit him. Plus, the Ord Mantell delegation is still here, and we all know she’s not pro-slavery.” 

“Uh-oh. Incoming,” Finn murmured. 

Jess looked up and sighed. “Dammit.”

“Spoke too soon, Testor,” Niv muttered as he stood up with his mug of caf. He tapped Finn’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Now’s when we leave.” 

Finn nodded and stood. “Good luck?” he offered lamely before following Niv away from the table.

“Cowards,” Jess called after them. Niv turned and grinned before continuing out the door. Jess flipped him off.

Poe looked up to see C-3PO approaching their table.

“Kriff,” Jess sighed and dropped her head forward. She sucked in a deep breath and looked up at the approaching droid.

“I beg your pardon, Captain, but General Organa requires your presence immediately,” the droid said. 

“I’m sure she does,” Jess said with false bravado. She drained her caf and looked at Poe. “You asked if she knows? I’d say she knows now.”

“Commander, the General requests your attendance as well,” C-3PO said.

“You dragged me into this?” Poe asked. “I wasn’t even on-planet!”

“Hey, don’t look at me. I acted alone,” Jess muttered as she stood. “I didn’t say nothin’.”

“Tell the General we’re on our way,” Poe said, pushing himself to his feet.

“Of course, sir,” C-3PO said. But he didn’t leave. He just stood there, staring expectantly at them. 

“Force, Threepio! We’re gonna put our trays away and we’ll be there!” Jess said sharply. 

“Oh my! No need to be rude,” the droid said and turned to walk away. 

Poe and Jess put their trays away and left the mess.

“You good?” Poe asked once they were alone.

“Yeah, why?” Jess asked with a shrug.

“You just yelled at a droid. I thought we were working on your reputation amongst the droids,” Poe teased, trying to relieve the tension he could see in Jess’s shoulders.

It worked. Jess laughed and sighed. “Do you think that the General actually likes that droid? Do the other droids even like him? Cause I can think of some really cool things to do with his parts.” 

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Poe asked.

“A windchime, for example,” Jess smiled mischievously.

Poe laughed. “No way the General is gonna let you turn that droid into a windchime. He’s been in her family since before the Clone Wars I think.” 

“Think about it, though—he’d make just as much noise, but without actually talking. And when you get tired of the commotion, you can take him down and put him in a closet. I think it’s a great solution.” 

“You want to take his place as the orchestrator of his droid spy network?” Poe asked.

“Beebee-Ate can do it,” Jess offered.

“You want to put Bee in charge of an _army_ of droids? Really?” 

“Shit,” Jess laughed. “No, I do not want that. Never mind—the golden thing can stay. Forget I said anything.” 

“You know that turning a droid into anything is not gonna help your reputation, right? _Great Destroyer_ ,” Poe teased as they walked down the hall. 

“I can dream,” Jess said. She sighed as they reached the door to the General’s office. “What are the odds she’s gonna promote me instead of yell at me?”

“Slim to none,” Poe said. “But I’m here, too, so we’ll both be yelled at.” 

“Great,” Jess said with an eye roll. She bounced on her toes a few times and straightened her spine, hyping herself up for the meeting. “Ok, let’s get this over with.”

Poe smirked. “Ladies first,” he said, keying the door open. 

Jess stepped into the room with Poe close at her heels, where General Organa and former Black Squadron pilot Suralinda Javos were waiting.

Suralinda had been taken off of Black Squadron following her injury Ikkrukk to allow her time to fully heal. She had been reassigned as Organa’s personal aide to allow her to use her knowledge of journalism and propaganda to help aid the Resistance. Under normal circumstances, Poe would be happy to see Suralinda—they had maintained a strong friendship since they first met at the Academy. Now, though, her presence seemed ominous. The Squamatan stood next to the seated General, both wearing severe expressions. The door slid quietly shut behind them, leaving no escape route—as if either Poe or Jess were brave enough to try and get away from the General. 

“General,” Jess greeted politely. 

“Ma’am,” Poe nodded sharply. 

“Captain Pava, the only reason you weren’t immediately escorted to a cell in the detention block for this behavior is that this is so out of character for you that I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt,” General Organa said sharply before turning to Poe. “And you, Commander, she is one of your pilots. Black Squadron, even. I expect better from your elite team.” She looked back at Jess. “Now, explain yourself.”

Jess raised an eyebrow. “I’m assuming you mean my altercation with the Apparatchik?”

Suralinda ducked her head to hide what Poe was pretty sure was a grin.

“To what else do you think I would be referring?” Poe could tell that Organa’s patience was wearing thin. 

“Jess…” he said warningly. 

Organa narrowed her eyes at the younger woman. “I can’t, for the life of me, think of a single reason why you would think it was appropriate to have a physical altercation with a visiting dignitary. Our list of allies is short enough as it is without us attacking them. So please, tell me what made your assault justified?”

“Oh, that’s easy. His slave is Festan,” Jess replied levelly.

Poe glanced at General Organa, who’s own face matched his earlier shock. From the corner of his eye, he saw Suralinda’s expression flicker, concerned about how this was affecting Jess.

“Repeat that?” Organa said.

“His ‘assistant’ isn’t an assistant. He’s a slave. And he’s from Fest,” Jess repeated. 

“That is a very serious accusation,” Organa warned.

“Kinda feels like I’m the last person you need to tell that to,” Jess said incredulously. 

“You didn’t tell me he was Festan,” Poe said quietly. Fest had been raided numerous times by the Empire, but the most grievous attack had taken place long after the war was over. The Siege, as Festans now referred to it, had taken place eleven years ago. The remnants of the Empire had blitz attacked the planet and blockaded it while they took hundreds of thousands of Festan men, women, and children captive. Poe had just barely started at the Academy at the time, but every available pilot had been sent to Fest to aid in their struggle against the invading forces. They’d been too late, though: the Empire, or, more accurately—he now knew—the First Order, was gone before the first ships had even gotten into the system. Since then, less than a thousand of the captives taken that night had been recovered—all from work camps or slavery.

“You knew about this?” Organa asked, rounding on her Commander.

“No—well, I mean, she told me about three minutes before Threepio sent us here,” Poe replied before turning back to Jess. “Are you saying he was taken as part of The Siege?” Poe asked.

“I’d assume so,” Jess said, leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. “Didn’t exactly get a chance to talk to him about it, though.” 

“Did he verbally confirm to you that he’s a slave?” General Organa asked. 

“No, but—”

“So you attacked the Apparatchik on a hunch?” Organa demanded. 

Poe watched Jess’s expression turn to stone. He knew that look. So did Suralinda.

“General,” Suralinda said quietly, giving as much of a warning as she dared.

Organa sighed. “Captain Pava…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I recognize that this is a matter of particular personal significance to you,” she said. “But you can’t go around _punching_ visiting dignitaries. And without anything to substantiate your claims, I can’t just take your word for it.”

“I know what I saw, General. I’m not wrong about this,” Jess said, her voice low. “I don’t question you about politics, so I’m asking that you don’t question me about slavery. Second to flying, this is my area of expertise. I know what I’m talking about. You want evidence? Fine. He has a brand on the back of his neck, and if he was traded through normal markets, he’ll have a tattoo like mine on his forearm. And I will put credits on him having one because he unconsciously reaches for his forearm where the mark would be, and he _always_ seems to be on the edge of a knife when anyone pays any attention to him. Not to mention the way Fallor treats him."

"It's circumstantial at best, Pava," Organa said.

"General—I’m right. I know that I am. And more importantly…so do you.” 

“General, we can’t always pick who we trade with, I understand that,” Poe interjected, “but you’ve always said there’s a line we won’t cross. We’ll trade with smugglers, but are we willing to knowingly trade with a slave owner?” 

Organa sighed. “Ms. Javos and I will look into it, you have my word. I do believe you, Captain. And if I find _anything_ that I can bring to the rest of Command as evidence, we will end negotiations immediately.” 

“Thank you, General,” Jess said, her expression softening slightly. “I apologize if I was out of line.” 

“It’s understandable. Respectable, even, in a way. You’re dismissed,” Organa said, looking back down at a datapad on her desk. “Commander, please stay for a mission briefing.

Poe moved to let Jess pass him for the door, but Jess didn’t move. “Jess?” 

“Is there something else, Captain?” Organa asked, looking up at the young pilot.

“General…is there anything we can do for him? Darban, I mean.” 

Poe stood quietly as he watched Organa’s face go from cool composure to sympathetic as she looked at Jess and tried to figure out what she would say.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so. It’s one thing for us to not trade with the Apparatchik, but it would be another thing entirely for us to try and take his slave away from him. We’re not in the New Republic—our laws don’t matter anymore, at least not in any enforceable way. Plus, it is my understanding that the Apparatchik is well-liked on his planet, and insulting him could lead us into a fight that we are too fragile to be in. We might be able to salvage trade with Ord Mantell through another representative, but our resources are stretched too thin as it is without starting another front with them. I’m sorry, Jessika, but for now…I’m afraid I probably won’t be able to do anything to help the boy.” 

Jess chewed her lip and nodded. “I understand, General. Thank you for listening. And for your honesty.”

Organa sighed. “I’ll see if I can work something out. I’ll _try,_ Pava, but I’m not going to give you false hope.” 

“Thank you, General.” 

“Is there anything else?” Organa asked.

“No,” Jess shook her head. 

“Very well. Dismissed.” 

Jess nodded and turned towards the door. Poe took her hand and squeezed it gently as she passed him to leave the office.

Before she keyed the door open, Organa’s voice stopped her.

“Captain,” Organa called. 

“Yes, General?” Jess asked. She didn’t turn around.

“I want you to know, Captain Pava, I do not make decisions like this lightly. I wish I could save everyone, but there are no easy decisions in war,” Organa said to Jess’s back.

“I understand, General,” Jess said, but didn’t turn. “And I know you do your best. I can see that. We all can.” 

“Thank you, Captain,” Organa said quietly. 

Jess nodded and keyed the door open.

“I’ll be out soon,” Poe said before he turned to face the General. 

“General, may I?” Suralinda asked, gesturing towards the door.

“Go,” Organa said, sending Suralinda into the hall after Jess.

Once the door was closed again, Organa looked up. “Did I make a mistake?” she asked.

Poe was still caught off guard every time the General showed him any kind of vulnerability. Organa had been more open with him after Crait— _much_ to his surprise—and had been involving him in many of her planning and strategy sessions. It meant that Poe saw a whole new side to Leia Organa: something that he was both honored and terrified by. He had a sense that she was preparing him for something, but he wasn’t sure what.

“General?” Poe asked.

“With Pava,” she clarified.

Poe shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, she doesn’t _love_ the call you’re making, but Jess understands the position you’re in and will support it.” He huffed a laugh. “You’d know if you made a mistake with her.” 

Organa gave a wry smile. “I suppose that’s true. You’ll check in with her for me, though?”

“Of course, ma’am,” Poe nodded.

“Good,” Organa sighed and straightened up—all vulnerability gone. “Now, tell me about your mission. How is it out there?”

Poe hesitated. “It’s bad, General. The First Order is stretching farther than we’d anticipated. They’re moving quickly and without the New Republic, there’s no voice opposing them. Well, none except yours.”

Organa smiled—similarly to in the Rebellion, she had become the face and voice of the Resistance with a team sending out propaganda to any sympathetic holonet station and hacking any that refused to play them. Her voice, once again, was a voice of freedom and justice in the galaxy.

“Our message is getting out?”

“Looks that way. Suralinda’s strategy seems to be paying off. A few of our operatives have said that there’s been increased chatter and interest in contacting us. Can’t say for sure, but…it looks like we might get some new recruits.” Poe hesitated. “People are looking for hope, General, and you’re providing that.”

“I’m not the Resistance. I can’t be the only hope you all carry,” Organa said.

“I know that, but…” Poe shrugged. “We’ve gotta start somewhere. And people know you. They trust you.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Organa nodded sagely. “Does the First Order know where we are?”

“I don’t think so. None of the intel indicates that they know where to look.”

“That’s good news. What about the supplies?”

“I arranged a fuel dead drop for next week. Only one tanker, but it’s one more than we have right now.”

“We’ll take what we can get. What about the rest?”

“We have some sympathizers out on the rim. They’re gonna put together what they can and contact me for a pickup. Who knows what we’ll get—might be everything we need, might be nothing.”

“Let’s hope that we get something worthwhile,” Organa said. “How about you? Any trouble out there?”

Poe shook his head. “Didn’t see any First Order ships. But…you can feel them. You know they’re everywhere. And the Stormtroopers are visible. But I didn’t have any confrontations, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Organa said. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe said and pulled a code cylinder from his pocket. “One of my operatives managed to get this for me. I checked—it’s legit.”

Organa’s eyes focused sharply on the device. “Who did it belong to?”

“Some commander. No one of any real note. But they’re high enough in the Order to get us into their space undetected. See what’s going on.”

“Recon,” Organa agreed. “And you’re sure it’s good?”

“Yes,” Poe said.

“Then we need to send someone soon before they realize it’s gone and replace their codes,” Organa said. “I want to send them today if possible.”

Poe nodded. “I’ll check the rotation, see who I can send.”

“I’d prefer Black Squadron for this mission,” Organa said. “However, Saren would also be acceptable.”

“Understood,” Poe nodded. “I’ll let you know who I send.”

“Good. Write it up for me to take to Command. Then get some runs set up for the fuel and supply dump on the rim. I want us ready to move as soon as possible.”

“Ma’am?” Poe asked.

“We’ve been here too long, but we didn’t have the fuel to move. As soon as we have it, we need to leave.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe said. “Any idea where we’d go?”

Organa smiled. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” she said. “Is there anything else, Commander?”

“No, ma’am,” Poe said.

“Good. Dismissed. Send Javos back in.”

Poe saluted and left the office. Jess and Suralinda were talking on the floor on the other side of the door.

“General wants you,” Poe said to Suralinda, offering her his hand. She took it and pulled herself to her feet.

“Thanks,” she sighed. She looked at Jess, who had also gotten up. “All I’m saying, Jess, is that it was stupid to do that. But…I kinda wish I got to do it, too.”

Jess laughed. “Thanks, Suralinda. See you later.”

The Squamatan waved and stepped back into the office. The door quietly hissed shut behind her.

“You ready to go?” Poe asked Jess.

“Yep,” Jess said and turned down the hallway. “Good meeting with the General?”

“As good as we can hope for these days,” Poe replied. “But things are starting to look up. It looks like we’ll be getting some supplies in the next week or so, and with that…we might just make it.”

Jess smiled and shoved her hands into her pockets, fidgeting with her multitool until she felt that they had walked far enough away from the closed office door.

“Think she only let me get away with that because she’s desperate for pilots?” Jess asked.

“Na,” Poe shook his head. “She’d of let you get away with that before Starkiller. Especially because she knows you’re right. And she likes you.” 

Jess raised her eyebrows in surprise and laughed. “I hope.” 

“You ok?” Poe asked. “For real? It got a little...intense in there. A little personal.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jess said. “I appreciate the check-in.” 

“It was bold of you to push like that,” Poe said as they walked down the hall. “I don’t think I’ve seen you challenge the General like that before.”

Jess shrugged. “Organa listens. And she lets me push back. She might not do what I want her to, but at least I know I’m heard,” Jess said. “Or at least, I _feel_ heard. And hopefully, she has what I’ve said in mind when she’s making a call. Might not change her mind, but…” she sighed, “maybe she’ll consider it.”

“You ok with her call?” Poe asked warily. 

“Am I ok leaving someone in slavery? No. But…I know it’s not the same as what happened with Ompiach, if that’s what you’re getting at. I know that we can’t pick every fight. Not right now. The General’s right: we’re too fragile to start another front.” 

“Unfortunately,” Poe agreed. “So, what do you want to do now?”

“I want to fly,” Jess said. 

Poe winced. “We can’t. Light on fuel. Missions only. And even those are getting priority ranked and rationed.” 

Jess groaned. “I know. But I hate it,” she pouted.

“New shipment coming in next week, though.”

“You got it?” Jess asked excitedly.

“Yeah,” Poe nodded. “A whole tanker.”

“Thank the Universe,” Jess breathed. “Ok. So if I can’t fly, then I wanna fight. Gotta do something with all this adrenaline. Up for sparring?”

Poe shook his head. “No. Uh-uh. No way. Not again. You kicked my ass last time.” 

“That was like, six years ago,” Jess laughed. 

“And I still haven’t forgotten,” Poe grinned. “Come on, let’s go find Finn. He’s always up for sparring with you.” 

Jess was quiet before she smirked. “Five credits says I take him down in less than three minutes.” 

Poe chuckled. “What is it you like to say? ‘Easiest money I’ve ever made.’ You’re on.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jess just gives Poe a headache sometimes. And Leia. She definitely gives Leia a headache. 
> 
> "Chi’kan eswa" roughly translates to "reviled and corrupt sleazeball/pervert." (Isn't the internet great? Finding translations for insults in a fictional language...)
> 
> Just to put this out there: I have nothing against Rey or Suralinda. I like both characters, I just don't particularly enjoy writing them (and I don't think I do it very well). Plus, they don't totally fit into the storyline I'm working with, hence why Niv replaced Suralinda on Black Squadron and Rey is off on her own adventure. No hate, promise!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I love hearing from readers and appreciate any feedback or thoughts you have.
> 
> Have a great day!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is taken from 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

Jess didn’t see the Apparatchik or Darban at all that day. She tried not to think about it. In fact, she’d done everything she could think of to distract herself. So after sparring with Finn, Jess dedicated herself to her ship. 

The old T-70 was Jess’s pride and joy. She imagined that the way she felt about her X-Wing must be how parents felt about their children. Ships, however, were predictable: they unlikely to run away or make bad choices, and were pretty hard to accidentally break. All things kids were not. Plus, ships didn’t need diapers for their first three years of life _and_ they didn’t have a self-destruct button on the top of their heads like babies did, which, in Jess’s opinion, made them far superior to kids.

Jess didn’t allow anyone else to work on her ship. Not since everything that had happened with Oddy Muva and L’ulo. Occasionally, Poe could get a pass to work on the old bird, but even that was rare. She did all of her own maintenance and knew every weld, nut, bolt, and coupling that made her fly. A lot had changed for Jess since she had first joined the NRDF, but one thing that hadn’t changed was her need for control—in her life and especially in her ship. Which was why she had taken apart, cleaned, and reassembled the left S-Foils and had plans to start on the right side after third meal. She might not be able to fly right now, but she wasn’t about to let her ship be in anything less than perfect condition. 

“Hey-o Pava,” Niv greeted. “Glad to see you’re not in the brig.” 

“Please,” Jess scoffed. “Organa needs pilots more than she needs to prove a point.” 

“You’re not wrong,” Niv said, leaning against the nosecone of her ship.

Jess grinned. “I’m glad I’m not, too,” she confided.

Niv looked at the open panel. “Everything looking good?”

“Mm-hmm.” Jess turned back to the ship to replace the exterior paneling to the lower S-Foil. She smiled as it slotted perfectly and seamlessly back into place. The ship was almost as old as she was, but mechanically, it was as good as new. Possibly better. _If only everything was as easy to fix,_ she thought.

A hand waved in front of her face. “Yoo-hoo. Did you hear what I said?” Niv asked.

Jess looked up. Niv had been talking, but Jess had zoned out. “What? Oh, no. Sorry, what’s up?”

“Where’s your head?” Niv asked. 

Jess sighed. “Have you seen any of the Ord Mantellans since last night?” she asked.

“You mean since you punched their leader?”

“Yes.”

Niv considered for a moment. “No, I don’t think so.” 

“Fantastic,” Jess sighed. “Have they left?”

“I dunno. Why?” 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing. Just a hunch or…something.” Niv’s orange flight suit suddenly registered in Jess’s mind. “Wait…what are you doing here? And why are you suited up? Dameron said we’re still light on fuel.”

“Mission,” Niv said with a grin, twiddling a code cylinder between his fingers.

“No way!” Jess groaned. “Trade?”

“Absolutely not. I haven’t flown in just as long as you,” Niv said. “I’m itching to get out there, too.” 

“Ugh. Fine, be selfish,” Jess teased. “So what’d you get?” 

“Just some recon. Nothing special,” Niv said. 

“Where’d the code cylinder come from? Do you know who it belonged to?”

Niv shrugged. “Hell if I know. All I know is that it gets me in a cockpit and out in the black.”

“And apparently close enough to First Order space to maybe get something worthwhile,” Jess said. 

“Hopefully,” Niv said. 

“How long?” 

“Few days. Maybe a week.” 

“I’m so jealous,” Jess groaned. 

“Yes. You’re so jealous that I will be sitting in a cockpit, _alone_ , with expired ration bars for a week.” 

“You had me at 'cockpit',” Jess chuckled. 

“I’m sure you’ll be up soon.” 

“Hope so. When do you leave?” Jess asked as she bolted the plate back into place.

“Now,” Niv said.

Jess nodded. “Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t love you going without backup.” 

“I’m already flying light and we don’t have the fuel to spare for a second ship. But it’s just recon, Jess. I’ll be back before you know it,” Niv promised.

“Taking your E-Bag and repair kit?”

“They’ve been pared down, but yes.”

“Still don’t like it,” Jess shook her head.

“Captain Pava,” a voice interrupted them. Jess and Niv turned to see General Organa approaching. 

“General,” Jess said, wiping her hands on her pants. “What can I do for you?”

“Walk with me,” she said, indicating to the hangar door.

Jess shot a look at Niv, who shrugged. She started following the General before she turned around back to Niv.

“Fly safe,” Jess said, walking backward away from him.

“Always do,” Niv grinned. “See you when I get back.” 

Jess gave Niv a sloppy salute before she turned and jogged to catch up with the General. From behind them, she could hear Niv’s engines warm up and the ship taxi out of the hangar before taking off into the thick haze.

“What do you need, General?” Jess asked once she’d reached the older woman. 

“I had Suralinda look into your allegations against the Apparatchik,” Organa began. 

“Already?” Jess asked—slightly surprised.

“Did you think I’d sit on this?” Organa raised an eyebrow. “They were very disturbing claims.” 

“Of course, sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything.” Jess took a deep breath. “What I meant to say was thank you for taking my concerns seriously. So…what happened?” 

“Her report was equally troubling. I did some investigating myself and found that you were indeed correct: the young assistant to Vic Fallor was his slave. I think you will be happy to know that I have declined the option of entering into a trade alliance with him. Furthermore, the Apparatchik and his entourage have departed our base. I have been in contact with Ord Mantell’s High Council and informed them that while we are still open to a trade alliance with the planet, we will not do so with a slave owner,” Organa said as she led Jess through the winding hallways. “They were surprised that Fallor was even here. Apparently, he did not inform the High Council that he was pursuing a trade alliance with us. From what I’ve been told, he has been on the outside looking in for a long time and saw proctoring a trade agreement with us as his ticket onto the Council.”

Jess frowned. “And you just let him leave? Aren’t you worried that he’ll go to the First Order? I mean, he could give them our location or something. We could go after him if you need us to.” 

“That won’t be necessary. Fallor has not been held in high esteem by the Council for quite some time. As such, they had a spy infiltrate his security detail months ago with orders to report back to them regularly. They assured me that their operative will make sure that Fallor does not contact the First Order. Furthermore, the Council has given me their word that they will look into the matter fully upon his return.” 

“Doubt he’ll be happy to hear that,” Jess said, realizing that Organa had led her to the makeshift medbay. 

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t. But that’s not what I wanted to speak to you about,” Organa said, leading Jess through the doors and to the end of the hall. 

“General, what are we doing here?” Jess asked.

Organa gestured through the observation window. “I don’t think that a failed trade agreement is the only reason the Apparatchik will be unhappy with us,” she said with a smile.

Jess looked through the window and was shocked to see Darban sitting on the treatment bed with a med droid checking his vitals. Dark bruises and scrapes were visible on his face and arms, but overall, he looked fairly uninjured. He looked more confused than anything else.

“What is he doing here?” Jess asked, a smile started to spread across her face as she turned to face the General. “You said that Fallor and the others from Ord Mantell left earlier today.” 

“But this young man isn’t from Ord Mantell, is he? He’s from Fest,” Organa asked, a twinkle of mischief in her eye. “When I went to confront the Apparatchik, I saw this young man bleeding on the floor. Even without your accusations, the evidence was damning. I wouldn’t let that stand on our base. So I had him removed from Fallor’s custody.” 

“I thought we couldn’t insult the Apparatchik,” Jess said roguishly. 

“I can break my own rules,” Organa said with a sly grin. “And I’m not one to leave someone in danger.” 

“That kind of risk for one person isn’t the best strategy.”

Organa scoffed. “Who said anything about strategy? It was the right thing to do.”

Jess smiled. “Thank you.” 

The General took Jess’s hand and squeezed. “This isn’t your life before, Captain Pava, this is the Resistance.” 

“I know,” Jess nodded. “And I’m sorry if I overstepped. I was out of line and—”

“Nonsense. After you left this morning, I thought about what you said. And you were right. While I wish you didn’t—for your _own_ sake—you do know what you’re talking about. I should have trusted you. And the point of the Resistance is to help people, and I don’t just mean the masses when I say that. I mean every individual as well. I’m sorry if I made you doubt that.”

Jess shook her head. “I never have.” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Organa said. “Now, I think our friend here could use a friendly face.” 

“Thank you, General,” Jess grinned and stepped into the room.

\---

Darban was allowed out of the medbay the next morning. Like everything else with the Resistance, bacta was in short supply, so he was still a little more injured than Kalonia was strictly comfortable with, but there was also no reason to keep him in the medbay. General Organa had offered to help get him back to Fest, but while there was no shortage of pilots available, they didn’t have a shuttle, not to mention any fuel, to spare to send him. She’d offered to get him on the next available ship going in that direction, with the caveat that the next time they were headed towards Fest could be a month away. Darban assured her that he could wait until then. In the meantime, Jess had volunteered to keep close and show him around the base.

So he’d joined her for all of her shifts—watching everything she did from ship maintenance to Command Center monitoring with rapt attention.

On the fifth day that Darban had been shadowing Jess, she had traded a 3rd shift deep space monitoring assignment with Poe in exchange for a promise that she’d be next out on a mission. 

The night had been quiet. Not so much as a beep on the sensor. When First Shift started to arrive, Jess sighed in relief. 

“Thank the Force,” she groaned, waiting for her relief to come. “I can’t wait until the majority of my shifts are flying again. This computer-monitoring business is not my thing.” 

Darban looked around, watching the shift change. “So how’d all these people find the Resistance?” 

“Kinda depends on who you’re talking about,” Jess said. “A lot of us came from the New Republic military in some form or fashion. Most of the Pathfinders were part of New Republic Ground Troops, almost every pilot—myself included—is former NRDF, and the spies are largely from New Republic Intelligence.” She grinned. “And most of the old-timers are from the Rebellion back against the Empire. They followed General Organa then and figured they wouldn’t stop now. As for the rest….well, they all found their way here one way or another. Some were looking for a fight, some were looking to run away or disappear, and some didn’t know what they were looking for, they just knew they wanted to help.”

“It seems like everyone has a purpose here—a specialty. I don’t know that I have any skills that the Resistance could use,” Darban said as he looked around the command center.

Jess looked over at Darban. “Organa said you were going back to Fest. You thinking about staying?”

Darban shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know if there’s anything or anyone left for me on Fest.” 

“If you want to stay, you’ll be welcome here. We’ll find something for you to do. Every skill is helpful. And we’ll train you for what we need, too.” Jess sighed. “Plus, we’re not really in a position to turn away help.” 

“What do you mean?” Darban asked.

Jess smiled sadly. “This? The people who are here?” she gestured around the Command Center. “This is nothing compared to before. There used to be so many more of us.”

“What happened?” Darban asked quietly. 

“What didn’t?” Jess laughed humorlessly. “Couple battles went south. First Order, bad calls, bruised egos, failed missions, injuries, new tech, lack of intel, poor communication—you name it.” 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked,” Darban apologized quickly.

“No, you should ask. You should know what you might be joining,” Jess said with a shrug, trying to seem unaffected, but she knew it didn’t work. “Look, sugar-coating this isn’t gonna do you any good. So yeah, we lost a lot of good people on Starkiller and Crait. And we’ll likely lose more. But they died and will die doing what’s right—what they believe in. And that’s why we’ll win.”

“Do you believe in it?” Darban’s voice was quiet. “What the Resistance is doing…would you die for it?”

“Yes,” Jess said. “Because the Universe doesn’t have room for pain without meaning. And the First Order…they don’t have meaning, so there isn’t room for them here. And the Resistance—yeah, there’s pain here, too, but there’s also meaning.” 

Darban nodded slowly. 

Jess sighed. “Sorry—that was a major downer of a conversation. Where is Ryta? I’ve been ready for first meal for an hour. Or is it third meal because we were up all night? Ugh. Either way. I'm ready for food. And caf. But I’m always ready for caf.”

Darban chuckled quietly. “I can’t believe the Resistance feeds you three times a day. The Apparatchik…” Darban trailed off and sobered quickly. “He isn’t a good person. He doesn’t treat people like everyone does here.”

“I know the type,” Jess said darkly. 

“Yeah?” Darban asked hesitantly.

“Yeah.” Jess pushed her shirtsleeve up to show him her tattoo. 

A look of understanding crossed over Darban’s face. “I suppose you do,” he said softly.

Jess pushed her sleeve back down. “It was a long time ago. Look, you should know that the Resistance can’t pay you shit, but they give you three meals a day and a roof, and usually a bed. Plus, you have the knowledge that you’re doing the right thing.” She grinned lopsidedly. “We’re all a bit on the altruistic side. Or space-crazy. It’s fifty-fifty.” 

“Morning, Pava,” a voice greeted.

“Speaking of space-crazy,” Jess turned in her chair. “Hey, Ryta. Can’t say I’ve ever been happier to see you,” she grinned up at the Chiss as she pulled off the headset. 

“Are you trying to insult me?” Ryta raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. 

“Never,” Jess said as she stood and shook the other woman’s hand. 

Ryta leaned forward to read the screen, her red eyes scanning for any new data. “Nothing?”

“Not even a blip,” Jess confirmed. “Nothing within twenty parsecs in any direction.”

Ryta sighed and tossed her dark braid over her shoulder. “No news is good news, I suppose,” she said. 

“Better news would be that someone’s sending us a fleet,” Jess said.

“One can wish,” the Chiss woman chuckled. “Who’s your friend?” she asked, nodding to Darban.

“Oh, sorry. This is Darban. He’s from Fest and is hanging around here until we can get him home,” Jess said. She turned to the young man. “This is Ryta. She’s Chiss and hails from Csilla.”

“Where?” Darban asked with a frown.

“It’s in the Unknown Regions. Most people haven’t heard of it,” Ryta said. “Good to meet you, Darban.” 

“You, too,” Darban nodded. 

“Ryta is a sub-space communications expert,” Jess explained. “So she’s like…the _best_ at what we were monitoring for last night. What you and I might just think is static, she can listen to and correctly identify which of the four Gan dialects it is. Good person to have on your side when you’re hiding from someone like the First Order.”

“I’m always a good person to have on your side,” she quipped as she dropped into the seat. “Where in the rotation are you?” 

“We just started a new one,” Jess said, pointing at the monitor. “Bout…eighteen degrees in?” 

“Great,” Ryta said. “I’ve got it from here. Go get some food and sleep.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Jess said. “Have a good shift.”

The Chiss waved her off with one hand as she adjusted her headset with the other. 

“Hungry?” Jess asked.

“Yeah,” Darban nodded. 

“Me, too,” Jess said. “Let’s get out of here.” 

They stepped out of the Command Center and the door slid shut behind them. 

“Remember where to go?” Jess asked.

Darban considered for a moment. “That way,” he said confidently, pointing down one of the hallways. 

“Good memory,” Jess grinned as they started walking towards the mess.

They were only about thirty meters from the Command Center when they heard the door slide open again.

“Captain Pava!” A voice called. “Wait up!” 

Jess turned—it was Ade Yahra, one of the communications officers. She was young—barely eighteen, but she was one of the most committed comm officers the Resistance had. Not that the Resistance had a lot of comm officers at the moment, but Yahra was one of their best—and would have been one of the best before, too. 

“Darban, go on ahead. I’ll meet you there,” Jess said.

“I can wait if you’d like,” Darban offered.

Jess glanced back at the tall redhead. “Nah, go ahead. This’ll just take a minute. Finn or Snap will probably already be there. Go find them and I’ll be there soon.” 

“Ok. I’ll see you there,” Darban said and continued towards the mess.

Jess waited until the tall redhead had caught up to her. “Hey, Ade. You know you don’t have to call me ‘Captain’, right? Jess or Pava is just fine.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Ade nodded. 

Jess wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Definitely don’t call me ‘ma’am’. Eww.” 

“Of course. Sorry, Pava.” 

“What can I do for you, Ade?” Jess asked. 

“You just came off shift, right? Deep space monitoring?” 

“Yeah. Why?”

“Get anything?” Ade asked, bouncing on her toes. Jess frowned—she hadn’t known Ade for long, but the comm officer had always been confident and calm under pressure. This anxiousness was not typical.

“No, nothing. Ade—what is it you’re trying to ask?”

Ade sighed and looked back towards the Command Center. “I shouldn’t even be asking you this, but…have you heard from Lek?” she asked quietly. 

Jess frowned and shook her head. “No. He’s still on recon. Why?”

“I’m his comm-tech for this mission and he’s missed his last two check-ins,” Ade said. 

“He’s missed two? That doesn’t sound like Niv. You’re certain?” Jess asked.

“Yes. I’ve been wearing a commlink, just like I’m supposed to in case he calls in off schedule. It’s been silent.” 

Jess tried to ignore the knot forming in her stomach. “How long is he supposed to go between check-ins?” 

“Twelve hours. He hasn’t contacted me in over 24 hours. I thought…well, I guess I was hoping that maybe he’d tried to comm you if he couldn’t get through for some reason.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Jess said. “Ok. Ok, look, let’s not panic yet. There are a hundred viable explanations as to why he missed check-ins. He might be flying past a nova, a solar flare fried his comms, he might have entered an asteroid belt and had his antenna knocked out, or he could have reason to suspect that he’s being monitored and so he‘s decided to go radio silent. Hell, it could be as simple as a loose wire that he can’t land to fix—or he doesn’t even know about. Like I said, there are literally a hundred viable explanations. And it’s the, what, fifth day he’s been gone? He said less than a week. He’ll probably land today or tomorrow with some wild story.”

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be. Look, the third missed check-in is the standard point at which you need to report that he’s out of communication. So if he misses his next one, bring it to Command and we’ll go from there.” 

Ade nodded. “Alright,” she said nervously. 

“Yahra, I’m sure it’s nothing. But even if it is something, Niv’s a smart guy. He’ll be ok,” Jess said. 

Ade nodded again, more certain this time. “Ok. Thank you, Pava. I’ll let you know when I hear from him.” 

Jess nodded. “Sounds good. Have a good shift.”

“Thanks,” Ade smiled and walked back down the hall.

Jess frowned as she watched Ade disappear back into the Command Center. What Ade had told her was concerning: the younger comm officer had good instincts and was right to be worried.

“What’s up with her?” Poe asked, materializing beside Jess. 

“Kriff!” Jess gasped, startled by her friend. “Freaking Pathfinder’s kid, moving all silently like that. Where did you come from?” 

“My quarters,” Poe chuckled. “I was heading to the mess when I saw you talking to Ade. Looked serious. What’s up?” 

Jess looked over at him. “Niv’s missed two check-ins.” 

Poe froze for a moment before he nodded, snapping instantly into ‘Commander Dameron Mode’. She could see his eyes calculating, already thinking through everything he knew and everything he needed to find out. “Ok. He’s still on recon, right?” 

“Far as I know.” 

“What did you tell Yahra?” 

“I told her there were explanations—solar flares, novas, faulty equipment,” Jess said with a shrug. “And that the third missed check-in is the official report point, so not to worry just yet.”

Poe chewed on his lip, his brow furrowed. “So that’s what you’re saying. Now, what are you thinking?”

“I think Niv doesn’t miss check-ins. Ever.” Jess looked up at Poe. “And he knows how to fix a comm unit. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” 

“My thoughts exactly,” Poe said with a serious nod. “Something’s wrong.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! 
> 
> You know things aren't going your way in the Star Wars universe when someone 'has a bad feeling about this.' 
> 
> Thank you for reading, commenting, or liking/'kudos'-ing!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

Jess wasn’t surprised when Ade found her twelve hours later to tell her that Niv had missed his third check-in and that she’d reported it to Command. She wasn’t surprised when Poe got approval to send Karé and Snap out on a run to see if they could spot Niv’s ship. She wasn’t surprised when they came back empty-handed, unable to even run a trace on the missing X-Wing or pilot. And she wasn’t surprised when Organa told her that she had to declare Niv M.I.A. and would be informing his family. 

She was disappointed and heartbroken, but not surprised. 

She _was_ surprised, however, when 72 hours after Niv’s last contact, a sleek white ship landed on the launch platform. General Organa, Sargent Okin, and Vice-Admiral Erach were waiting as the ramp descended. Jess paused: she recognized the ship. More than that, she knew the woman in purple and the man in black coming down the ramp. And she knew which one of them the four soldiers in maroon were protecting. She dropped her work gloves next to her X-Wing and jogged across the platform.

“Magistrate,” Jess greeted Lita Lek, Niv’s mother, as she jogged over. “Tiran. What are you doing here?”

“Jessika. It’s good to see you’re still here,” Tiran greeted, his voice tired. “When we heard about Crait, we were worried that you hadn’t survived.” He took her hand and squeezed. Jess could tell that he hadn’t slept—probably not since Organa had called them. But there was something else. Jess could tell from his eyes that something else was wrong. 

“I didn’t think you’d risk coming here…not right now, at least,” Jess swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry about Niv—"

“Captain Pava, excuse us. We have urgent business,” Vice-Admiral Erach interrupted her as he escorted Lita Lek and her security detail past her.

Tiran looked over at the Vice-Admiral before looking back at Jess. “Thank you, Jessika. We’ll be sure to see you before we leave.” 

“Captain,” Erach said firmly. 

“Of course. Sorry,” Jess nodded and stepped back. “I’ll see you later, Tiran.” 

She stared after Tiran as Erach escorted him and his wife through the hangar and frowned. Vice-Admiral Dias Erach was a middle-aged human from Tatooine. He said he was former NRDF, but Jess had never crossed paths with him until he’d come to the Resistance after the Hosnian Cataclysm. He’d been stationed off-world at the time of the attack and had survived the destruction of the NRDF, leaving him with nowhere to go except back to his homeworld on the rim or to the Resistance. 

In the few months that Erach and Jess had known each other, they hadn’t had any interactions of note. And while Jess had never particularly liked him, she’d never had a reason to butt heads with him, either. That in itself wasn’t surprising: there were select few members of Command that Jess had ever gotten along with and even fewer who she’d liked—many of whom had died at the hands of the First Order. In this case, though, Jess didn’t know what she’d done to irritate the Vice-Admiral into the sharp reaction. Jess presumed it was just nerves from meeting the parents of a missing Resistance Pilot. If hadn’t already known the Leks, she’d be nervous, too.

Poe let out a low whistle. “That is a _nice_ ship. We have another visiting dignitary I don't know about?” he asked, wiping his hands on a rag as he approached her. 

“Kind of. Belongs to Lita and Tiran Lek,” Jess replied, nodding towards the Magistrate and her husband by the door of the hangar. 

Poe raised an eyebrow. “Niv’s folks?”

Jess nodded. 

“Where’d they get the ship? That’s easily a million credit ship.” 

“Closer to 1.7 mil. Plus customization."

"How do you know? Lek tell you?"

"I helped them pick it. The engine on that thing is amazing,” Jess said distractedly, her eyes following the small party out of the hangar. 

“ _You_ helped them pick _that_?” Poe asked, looking back at the ship.

“Yeah. When I went to Corulag with Niv for the Festival of Life when we were still at the Academy.” 

“Damn.” 

Jess gave him an incredulous look. “Dameron, you know Niv’s family is loaded, right?” 

“I mean, I guess?” Poe frowned as if trying to remember if he actually _knew_ that. “I mean, I know that Niv’s family has given significant funds to the Resistance…”

“Through shell corporations so as not to be implicated,” Jess added. 

“Right, and I know that they somehow arranged safety for us along the trading routes surrounding Corulag. It looks like his mom might be government?”

Jess nodded. “And don’t tell me you haven’t noticed his gear.”

“I guess Niv does always seem to have quality gear—nothing flashy, but sturdy and lasting.” 

“And we both know that gear like that comes at a price,” Jess said. “Come on, Dameron, you’re almost there.” 

Poe furrowed his brow. “I mean…Niv does always seem to have money available to him. But…I dunno. I guess I knew he was well off, but I’m not sure if I actually knew before now that Niv’s family is rich." He turned to look at Jess. "Are they _that_ rich?”

“Aw, man. Yeah, so the Lek family is like, _super_ powerful on Corulag,” Jess said. “His mom’s a Magistrate, so it’s a whole thing: money, power, connections, political influence—all of it. And more. The Lek name on Corulag has, like, almost Organa level power.” 

“Oh shit.” 

“Yeah,” Jess smirked. “Makes you wonder why he hangs out with peons like us.”

“Ours is not to question why,” Poe replied in his best Mon Mothma impression.

“You’re a dork,” Jess said, swatting his shoulder and turning back towards their ships. “Whatever. Erach clearly doesn’t want me anywhere near this, so I’ll just look the other way and mess around with my ship.” 

“What’s today’s project?” 

“Deep cleaning the internal console.”

“From what?” Poe asked.

“I dunno. Space debris. Protein bar crumbs. Skin oils. Dirt. Stuff,” Jess shrugged.

“You’re ridiculous,” Poe rolled his eyes. “Need a hand?”

“Don’t you have your own ship to work on?” Jess teased. 

Poe shrugged. “I could take a break.” 

“Na, I’m good,” Jess said. “Thanks, though.”

“Suit yourself,” Poe said in a singsong tone and drifted back to Black One.

Jess sighed and looked up the ladder leading to her cockpit. “Let’s see what we find,” she said as she began to climb up the rungs.

“Actually, Captain Pava,” General Organa said from behind her, “you’re friends with Lieutenant Lek, correct?” 

“I am, General,” Jess nodded and slid back down to the ground. “We’ve flown together since the Academy.”

“Then please, join us,” General Organa said, gesturing for Jess to follow Vice-Admiral Erach and the Leks.

“Vice-Admiral Erach didn’t seem to want me too close to this,” Jess said cautiously.

“I’m the General. I outrank him and I want you there,” Organa said. “You, too, Commander. I have a feeling we’ll need you both,” she said to Poe. The two pilots fell into step next to their General as they wound their way through the base. 

“General, what’s going on?” Jess whispered as they walked into one of the conference rooms. Ade and Ryta from the Command Center were already waiting. 

“Patience, Captain,” Organa muttered before peeling away from Jess and taking her seat. Jess went to the far wall and stood next to Poe.

“What’d Organa say?” Poe asked quietly. 

“Nothing. She told me to be patient,” Jess whispered. 

“Captain,” Sargent Okin said, bringing the meeting to a start. “Do you know where Lieutenant Lek is?” Her large Mon Calamari eyes seemed to be staring through Jess.

“Um, no? I know he was assigned to recon and has now missed six check-ins. What’s going on?”

“This was sent directly to the Leks and they forwarded it to us,” Ryta said and brought up a live feed on screen.

The screen showed Niv, pacing back and forth in a featureless room. 

“Niv,” Jess whispered and stepped towards the screen. He had a bruise on his cheekbone but otherwise looked unharmed. “Is this live?”

“We believe so, yes,” Tiran said.

“What’s going on?” Poe asked.

“The message we received said that we have until he runs out of air to meet their demands. If we do what they ask, they’ll free him and let him live,” Tiran explained. 

“And how long is that?” Organa asked.

“We don’t know,” Tiran said. He kept talking, but Jess had stopped listening. The angle of the camera showed almost the entire room, which gave Jess data to work with. Her eyes roamed over the image, taking in every aspect of the room, guessing approximate measurements, and running calculations in her mind. She shook her head: aside from approximate measurements, the room didn’t give her a lot to work with. It was featureless: four plain walls and a plain floor with what appeared to be a glass ceiling. Nothing that would help them identify where he was being held. Jess couldn’t even find a damn door into the room. 

“How long has he been in there?” Jess asked, interrupting whatever conversation was happening.

“Captain Pava—” Vice-Admiral Erach started.

“We were first contacted six hours ago,” Lita said. “We contacted General Organa before coming here.” 

Jess nodded, looking back to the screen. 

“Captain Pava, you are here as a courtesy,” Vice-Admiral Erach said. “You are not Command and your opinion will have no bearing on what choices we’ll make.” 

“Vice-Admiral, Jessika Pava is one of the finest pilots I’ve ever seen and one of the brightest minds I have had the pleasure of speaking with. Not only that, but she and our son have a personal relationship. And, to be frank, I would rather have her working on finding Niv than you,” Lita said firmly. Jess was glad her back was to the room because she couldn’t hide the quirk of her lips at the Magistrate’s words. Lita Lek was smart, candid, tough, and never took any crap from anyone. There was a reason she had run unopposed for decades.

“I apologize, Magistrate, General, but I believe that in these circumstances, Captain Pava is a liabilit—” 

“Vice-Admiral, if you aren’t going to be constructive, you are dismissed,” General Organa said shortly before turning to Jess. “What are you thinking, Captain?”

Jess schooled her expression and turned around to face the General. “Under normal conditions, if that room was completely sealed, it would have enough air for about thirty-eight hours. Let’s assume he’s not been breathing normally, because most likely, he’s not, it would drop to about twenty-eight hours. Six hours later…we’re looking at twenty-one— _maybe_ twenty-two hours of air left,” Jess finished. “If we’re lucky.”

“There’s more air than that. Days’ worth of air,” Vice-Admiral Erach said. “Your math is wrong.”

Jess raised an eyebrow. “What oxygen percentage are you assuming? And carbon dioxide? At 12% oxygen, he’ll pass out. Below 10%, he’ll die. If the CO2 goes above 8%, he’ll die. Based on Niv’s height, that room looks like it’s three meters by three meters and four meters tall. Best case scenario, I underestimated the space and he has a few more hours than I thought. Worst case, I overestimated and he’ll be dead before we get there. Do your math again, Vice-Admiral. Because if I was wrong, which I’m not, but _if_ I was, I’d be wrong by hours, not days. If we listen to your math, Lek will be dead before we even leave the planet.” 

“Captain,” Organa said warningly.

“I apologize, General, Vice-Admiral,” Jess nodded to them both before stepping backward and standing next to Poe. He leaned over and nudged her in support.

“Commander? What do you think?” Sargent Okin asked Poe.

“I agree with Captain Pava’s assessment,” Poe said. “Her skills in mathematics are above reproach. Assuming that it’s not pure oxygen in there, we have twenty-two hours max to find him.” 

Lita and Tiran looked at each other.

“We’ll get him back, Lita,” Tiran whispered and took her hand. “We will.” 

“What have they asked for?” Organa asked. “Money? Resources? Power?”

The Magistrate and her husband shared another look before she turned back to the General. “They want me to cut all ties with you,” Lita said. “Funding, trade routes, supplies—all of it.” 

Jess felt her mouth drop open. Corulag (and the Leks) were vital to the lifeblood of the Resistance. If they pulled out, the Resistance would be dead in the water.

“Magistrate,” Organa began hesitantly, “I can’t begin to imagine—”

“I won’t give it to them, Leia,” Lita said quietly. “You’ve known me for years. You know that we won’t betray you like that. But…we’re asking…no, we’re begging you to do whatever you can to get our son back.” 

“I can’t order pilots out on a personal mission, Lita, you know that,” Organa said quietly.

“I volunteer,” Jess said. “I volunteer to go after Niv.” 

Organa smiled sadly. “Captain, I appreciate your willingness, but after what happened to Lieutenant Lek, I can’t send just one—"

“Me, too,” Poe said. “I volunteer, too. And I’m sure the rest of Black Squadron will as well.” 

Vice-Admiral Erach was incensed. “General, we cannot let our pilots just go out like this by their own volition. The precedent it sets is inconceivable. And the risk to our supplies! The fuel alone—"

“We can fly light. We’ll make it work,” Jess said, interrupting the Vice-Admiral. She turned to look Erach in the eye: she’d decided that she didn’t like him. Not for the first time, Jess missed Admiral Statura and the rest of the late Command. “I don’t know who you think we are, but we don’t leave people behind,” Jess said levelly, not breaking eye contact with the Vice-Admiral. “That’s not who the Resistance is. And it’s sure as hell not who Black Squadron is.” 

Organa gave what Jess thought might have been a proud smile if she hadn’t schooled the expression quickly to hide it from Erach. “Commander Dameron, you may ask Black Squadron who would be willing to search for Lieutenant Lek. This is not a mission, they do not have to do this if they do not want to,” General Organa said. “Captain Pava, go find Finn. See if this seems like anything the First Order might be capable of—”

“Capable of?” Jess scoffed. 

Organa continued as if Jess hadn’t interrupted. “It doesn’t feel like their work, but I want to be sure. Clear?” 

“Yes, General,” Jess nodded. She and Poe left the room quickly.

Once the door had closed behind them, Jess turned to Poe. “Level with me: what do you think our chances are?”

“Sketchy information, time limits, impending doom—seems like our kind of thing,” Poe said with a weak smile. Jess didn’t return it. Poe sobered quickly. “I think our chances are good. We’ll get Niv back, Jess.” 

“You can’t promise that.”

“Then I promise that we’re gonna do everything we can to find him.” 

Jess nodded, but wouldn’t look Poe in the eye. 

“Hey…what is it?” Poe asked. 

Jess sighed. “Look, don’t…don’t read into this or think I’m spiraling or whatever. I’m fine, I promise. I just need to say this out loud. Get it out of my system, ok?”

“Sure, Jess. What do you need to say?” 

“Are we sure this isn’t impossible?” Jess asked. “Space is huge and we don’t even know who took him or where he might be. We don’t even have a place to start!” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m back…I’m in. You know I’m in. We’ll find him, I know we will. I just needed to say it.” 

“Hey, hey, Jess…I get it. But I don’t think it’s impossible. Niv is a smart guy—a survivor. And he’ll have the _best_ team in the galaxy looking for him.” 

Jess gave a weak smile. “Thanks for the pep talk.” She sighed. “I’m gonna go find Finn…see if the First Order does shit like this,” she muttered and turned down the hallway. “Even though we know they don’t,” she added under her breath.

“Jess,” Poe grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. “Tell me what you’re thinking. What’s your theory?” 

Jess looked around to make sure no one was listening to them. “This isn’t First Order. And not just because it doesn’t feel like them. I mean, think about it: the General turns down a trade alliance with the Ord Mantell Apparatchik, and the next thing we know Lek has been captured and is being held for ransom? And not for money, but for his mother, a Magistrate on Corulag, to end their affiliation with us? I don’t do politics, but that seems unlikely to me. The First Order would just blow us up.”

“Could be a coincidence,” Poe said, but Jess could tell that he doubted it.

Jess gave him a dubious look. “I don’t believe that, and I don’t think you do, either.” 

“You’re right, I don’t. If Corulag pulls out, it would put Organa in a really tight spot—desperate for allies. That would allow the Apparatchik to swoop in and make an alliance that would heavily favor his causes. And whatever he demanded could cripple us. It seems likely he’s behind this, but we can’t just accuse Apparatchik Fallor of taking Lek without solid evidence.” 

“Poe, is this my fault?” Jess asked quietly. “Is this my fault because of what I did? Did I push it to happen? Did I knock over the first domino or whatever?” 

“No,” Poe said firmly. “This isn’t because of you. If Fallor is behind this, it’s his fault, not yours. You did the right thing.” 

“Punching him was the right thing?” Jess tried to joke, but it caught in her throat. She blinked quickly, unwilling to let tears fall. 

“Well, maybe not that part,” Poe conceded, his lips twitching into a brief smile. “But telling Organa, getting Darban away from him—that was the right call. And Organa’s the one who made the call to cut off the trade alliance. Hell, I’m the one who sent Niv out. None of this is on you.” 

Jess nodded. “Ok. Yeah.” 

“I’m not saying this is Organa’s or my fault, either, you know. Just—”

“I know, Poe,” Jess cut him off. “Thanks.” 

Poe put his hand on Jess’s shoulder. “Go find Finn. See what he knows.” 

“It’s a waste of time,” Jess replied, her tone almost singsongy.

“Then get him read in,” Poe rolled his eyes. “If we’re going after Niv, I want him with us.” 

Jess nodded. Poe was right: if they could take anyone with them to find Niv, Finn was at the top of her list of people she’d want to bring along. “You got it, Boss.”

She turned to jog down the hall. 

“Hey, Jess!” Poe shouted.

“Yeah?” she turned around to look at him.

“You’re right: this might be impossible—for _someone else_. But we’re the Resistance and impossible is in our DNA,” Poe said. 

Jess bit her lip and smiled. “Yeah. Impossible is kind of what we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> I'm creating a playlist inspired by this series...any songs you think should be on it? 
> 
> Comments and Kudos seriously make my day. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

It didn’t take Jess long to find Finn—their footprint on the old Imperial base was small and there were only a few places for her to check.

“Finn?” she called into his room.

“Hey, Pava! Come on in,” Finn greeted.

“I need your advice on someth—what the hell are you doing?” Jess walked in to find the former Stormtrooper sitting on the floor and wearing a blindfold with his blaster taken apart in front of him.

Finn pulled off the blindfold and looked up at Jess. “I don’t think I can get any more time off of fieldstripping my blaster, so I’m trying to get just as accurate fieldstripping it blindfolded. You know, in case I have to do it in the dark.” 

Jess quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m bored,” he admitted.

“Right. Whatever. I need to talk to you.” 

Finn sat up straighter, hearing the stress in her tone. “What happened?”

“Niv’s missing.” 

“What?” Finn asked, pushing himself up onto his feet. 

“He’s missed six check-ins. Organa declared him M.I.A. and his parents are here now. They received a video feed and a ransom demand.”

“How much are they asking for?” 

“They’re not demanding credits. They want Corulag to cut all ties with the Resistance. Stop supply shipments, trade routes…all of it.” 

“Can his parents do that? Halt an entire planet from trading with us?” 

Jess nodded. “They have the sway, yeah.” 

Finn let out a low whistle. “Who has him?”

“We don’t know for sure. Organa wanted me to check in with you if it seemed First Order-ish.” 

Finn shook his head. “No, not at all. Ransom isn’t their style. They’d occupy the capital and make their leaders cut ties at blaster point. Or blow everything up—scorched earth method. This isn’t them.”

“That’s what I thought,” Jess sighed and sunk onto the bed and dropped her head into her hands. “But that also means we don’t have anywhere to start looking for him. I mean, I have a theory, but…nothing actionable.” 

Finn frowned. “Maybe I can help. What do you know?”

Jess leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. “He’s in an airtight room. The math says he has maybe 22 hours of air left. Hopefully.” 

“Tell me more about the room. What are the dimensions, materials, layout? Any details you can remember will help.”

“Floor looks to be about three meters by three meters. The walls look to be about four meters tall. Looks like it’s made of polished durasteel.” 

“Anything special about the room?”

“No,” Jess shook her head. “Four smooth walls, smooth floor. I didn’t even see a door.” 

“No door?” Finn asked. “So he was dropped in?” 

“I guess,” Jess shrugged.

“Did you see any part of the ceiling?” Finn asked, picking up his datapad. 

“Um…” Jess thought for a moment. “A little. Looked like glass maybe? With some metal beams? I dunno. I didn’t get a good look at it. I was distracted by Niv.”

“Fair enough,” Finn said, keying something into his datapad. 

“What are you thinking?” Jess asked. 

“Did it look like this?” he asked, handing her the device.

Jess took the pad and looked at the screen.

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “Exactly like that. I thought you said it wasn’t First Order?”

“It isn’t,” Finn said. “It’s Imperial.” 

“What?” Jess demanded.

“It’s an Imperial Prison Ship. An IMX-120.”

“I’ve never heard of it. Hell, I’ve never seen anything that looks like that.” 

“It was a prototype. Only twenty were made.”

“How do you know that?” 

“First Order education,” Finn replied. “My galactic history might be majorly skewed, but I know my ships.” 

“Right. Sorry. Tell me more about this ship.”

“Like I said, it’s a prison ship. It wasn’t intended for particularly long hauls, but it was armed to the teeth and more secure than any other prison ship flying during the days of the Empire,” Finn said. “Given time for additional development and modification, the Empire would have made it faster and more lethal.”

“Not intended for long hauls? Does it have a hyperdrive?”

“.5 lightspeed. So faster than sublight, but not anything like what most equipped ships can do,” Finn said. “This design was built and tested towards the end of the war—that’s why there are so few of them. And why they don’t have fully capable hyperdrives. If they’d been built earlier and the Empire had been given the time to have them modified…this would be a different situation entirely.”

“Talk about small favors. What else can you tell me?” Jess asked.

“At the time, it was state of the art. It could hold up to 120 high-value prisoners with only droids and 10 staff on board.”

How? Those odds don’t seem like the kind the Empire would usually take.” 

“Normally, they wouldn’t. But they figured out how to make a nearly inescapable cell.”

“Inescapable? How?”

“They manipulated the gravitational centers.” 

Jess frowned and handed the datapad back to Finn. “You’re gonna have to explain that one to me.” 

Finn hesitated and looked around his room before he reached over and grabbed an empty cup from his desk. “Ok, so imagine this is the cell,” he said, holding the cup on its side. “This here is the door,” he indicated to the rim, “and the bottom is the far wall. With me?”

“Yes,” Jess said impatiently. 

“Ok. So what makes the IMX special is that each cell has its own individualized grav field. Meaning that instead of the gravity center being here,” he traced his finger along the bottom side of the cup, “they can manipulate it by ninety degrees to be here,” he said, running his finger along the base of the cup. “Effectively making the cell like this, with the prisoner stuck at the bottom,” he stood the cup upright. “Each cell has its own field, so you can activate or deactivate cells as needed when you’re adding or removing a prisoner for questioning or…whatever.” 

“They can do that?” Jess asked. 

“In space, sure. Once the ship gets into a natural gravity well—like in atmo or something—it won’t work anymore, but with zero gravity, it’s just a manipulation of an artificial system.” 

“So we’re trying to find an old Imperial prison ship with wonky gravity.”

Finn nodded. “You’ll be able to detect that once you’re close enough. Readings of that ship will be wild.” 

“But it’s flying.” 

Finn held up the datapad. “Based on your assessment that the cell he’s in matches this image, I’d bet so. At minimum, it’s in orbit of something, somewhere that the grav fields can be manipulated. Where ever they have Niv, I’d put my credits on it not being on a planet. ” 

“Great,” Jess groaned. “Now we just have to _find_ that ship.” 

“There’s good news,” Finn said.

“Gods, I hope so.” 

“First off, there were only twenty made.”

“You said that already.” 

“Let me finish,” Finn jokingly admonished. “Records indicate that thirteen of them were destroyed and four were captured by the New Republic. So there are only three out there.” 

“That’s still a very small target in the vastness of space.” 

“That’s the other good news: it doesn’t run on Malastarian Fuel or Rhydonium.”

“Then what does it run on?”

“Anthracite.” 

“How is that good news?” 

“Anthracite isn’t an easy fuel to find. It’s pretty rare. And it leaves distinctive ion trails.”

Everything clicked for Jess and she grinned mischievously. “So find the fuel source, find an ion trail…”

“Find the right ship, and find Lek,” Finn finished. 

“And find his captor,” Jess added. “Amazing. Thank you! Stay close—I’m gonna go find Dameron and see what we’re doing next.” 

“I’ll be here,” Finn said, gesturing back to his disassembled blaster.

“Thanks!” Jess shouted as she ran out the door. 

Jess raced through the base corridors, narrowly avoiding crashing into a couple of radar technicians. She didn’t _need_ to run, she knew that, but there was finally a flicker of hope that they could find Niv. They had someplace to start. And between that and the adrenaline, anxiety, and uncertainty still occupying a large part of her brain...she needed to do something and running felt like a good option.

The doors to the hangar opened and she immediately spotted Poe standing near his X-Wing.

“Jess—what do you know?” Poe asked as Jess came to a stop in front of him.

“Finn says it’s not First Order.”

“He’s sure?”

“Yeah. But he knows what it is. It’s Imperial.” 

“Shit.”

“He said Lek is being held in an old prototype prison ship. Only twenty were made, and seventeen of them are accounted for. But it uses a rare fuel, so if we can find the fuel source, we can follow the ion trail.” 

“What kind of fuel are we looking for?” 

“Anthracite.” 

“Iolo can trace for that,” Poe said.

“That’s what I thought, too. He’s in?”

“Please. Of course he’s in. All of them are in. As many of them as Organa will send,” Poe said. 

Jess smiled. It wasn’t surprising—Niv had only started flying with Black Squadron to fill in for Suralinda after she’d been injured, but he was already well-loved by the entire squad. He was the youngest of them and had become their unofficial little brother. He didn’t complain when Snap called him “kiddo” or when Jess and Karé teased him about his romantic life. He was sweet and clever and funnier than anyone realized. 

He was a part of their family, and no one messed with the Black Squadron family. 

“Do you think the General suspects Fallor, too? Even if she’s not saying anything?” Jess asked. 

“I dunno. We don’t have any proof. And while it makes sense that he’d go after Corulag, how would Fallor even know that Lek was related to the Magistrate?” 

“He knew,” Jess said, furrowing her brow. “He said recognized him.”

“When?” 

“While you were gone. When I first suspected what was going on with Darban, Fallor and I had a…minor confrontation in the hallway outside of the mess.”

“So this was before you punched him?”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “Niv came out to see what was going on and Fallor recognized him.” 

“Why?” 

“He said he knew Niv’s mother and had met Niv when he was a boy.” 

“Can we prove that? At least…can we give enough evidence to bring it to Organa?” Poe hesitated. “I can’t believe we’re seriously considering the idea that Apparatchik Fallor is behind this. He’s an ass, sure, but this is just shy of an act of open war. Is he even capable of it?”

Jess clenched her jaw. After Crait, Poe had been a little gun-shy and his impulsiveness had been tempered. Not to the point that most people would notice, but she did. It wasn’t a bad thing—not until Jess wanted to do something that was maybe a little ill-advised. 

“I have an idea of who we could ask,” Jess said.

“Who?” 

Jess nodded her head towards the Lek’s ship. 

“Seriously? Their kid is missing and you want to ask about someone they may have met a decade ago?” 

“Basically, yeah. It’s the only way to find out if Fallor knew Niv,” Jess said and took off running across the hangar towards the landing platform. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Jess!” Poe shouted. “Damn it,” he muttered and chased after her. 

“Magistrate!” Jess called as she ran up the ramp. The guards were on their feet immediately, their blasters pointed at Jess. Jess froze and put her hands up. Poe stopped at the bottom of the ramp, his hands also raised. 

“Let her in,” Tiran said. “She’s fine.” 

“What about him?” the head guard asked, indicating to Poe.

“He’s fine, too,” Tiran said. 

The guard nodded and indicated to the others to lower their blasters.

Jess and Poe lowered their hands and walked the rest of the way into the ship. 

“I’m sorry for barging in like this,” Jess began. 

“No, Jessika, we’re glad to see you,” Lita welcomed her. “Come, sit. I’m sure it’s been a very trying few days for you as well.”

“I can’t stay long. This is Poe—”

“Poe Dameron. We’ve met,” Lita said.

“Magistrate, Mr. Lek,” Poe said politely, standing back and letting Jess do the talking.

“Listen, I have a question for you. It might help us find Niv,” Jess said.

“Anything. What is it?” the Magistrate asked.

“Are you familiar with an Apparatchik from Ord Mantell named Vic Fallor?” Jess asked.

Tiran frowned. “Vic Fallor? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time.” 

“I didn’t know he was still involved in interplanetary politics,” Lita said to her husband.

“So you’ve met,” Jess prompted. “Did he meet Niv, too?”

“Years ago, yes, I believe so. But we’re not contemporaries,” Lita said. “Why?”

“Was he here?” Tiran asked.

“He was here to pursue a trade alliance with Organa. And he recognized Niv. Organa turned him away for his involvement in the slave trade,” Jess said. “But that’s not important right now. What I need to know is: do you think he’s capable of this?” 

Lita and Tiran looked at each other.

“Vic Fallor is an ambitious and dangerous man. He’s smart, opportunistic, and ruthless. Plus, he’s wealthy and connected. Is he capable of this? In my mind, absolutely,” Lita said. “Do you think he’s behind this?”

Jess felt a weight settle in her stomach. “Yeah, I do,” she answered in a low voice. “I don’t care what Command says, I’m going after Niv. And if Fallor’s behind it, I’ll bring him back to face justice.” 

“I’ll go, too. We’re not gonna give up on him,” Poe added.

A look of relief passed over the Lek’s faces. “Thank you both. If Command won’t support you, we will. Whatever you need, we’ll provide it,” Lita said.

“Thanks,” Jess said with a nod. “If they contact you again…ask to speak with Niv. Tell them that the video could be a recorded loop and you want to hear your son’s voice, ok? And let him know we’re coming.” 

“Of course,” Tiran said. 

Jess turned to leave before she looked back at the Leks. “We’ll find your son. I promise.” 

“I know you will,” Lita said. “I’ve never doubted that.” 

“May the Force be with you, Jessika,” Tiran said. 

“And Jessika?” Lita said. “Be careful. Do not underestimate Fallor. He does not play by any rules but his own.”

“Understood,” Jess said before she saluted and walked back down the ramp with Poe close behind her.

Once they were back on the hangar floor, Jess turned to Poe.

“I have one other person I want to ask about this before we go to Organa,” Jess said.

“Who?”

“Darban. Maybe he could tell us if the Apparatchik has a ship like that. Or if he heard anything.” 

“Sure that’s a good idea? Bringing up the Apparatchik so soon after…” he cleared his throat. “I mean…after Ibanjji, you couldn’t really talk about Gloarten for months.” 

“I know. But he’s the only person who might know if Fallor planned this or has access to an IMX. And we need that intel if we’re gonna bring this kind of allegation to Command. I don’t have any better ideas. Do you?” Jess asked.

Poe sighed. “No.”

“Don’t worry—I know how to be gentle with this kind of thing.” Jess gave a small smile. “Be right back,” she said and disappeared out the door.

She quickly made her way to the medbay, where Darban was getting his bandages changed.

“How’s he doing, Doc?” Jess asked Kalonia.

“Better than _you_ typically are after a mission,” Kalonia said. “How are you doing, Pava?”

“Me? Please, Doc. I’m fine. I’m always fine. I’m the queen of fine,” Jess said with what she hoped was a charming smile.

“Of course you are. Even when you can’t remember the last decade of your life or you’re bleeding out on my floor, I know from experience: Jessika Pava is always fine,” Kalonia said with a shrewd smile. 

“Oh, come on!” Jess groaned. “It wasn’t a decade. I only couldn’t remember like, seven years of my life. And the bleeding out thing…that doesn’t count,” She rolled her eyes dramatically and grinned at the doctor. “She taking care of you?” she asked Darban. 

“Dr. Kalonia is a very skilled doctor,” Darban replied. 

“Good. Glad to hear it,” Jess said. “Doc, can I talk to Darban alone for a minute? Is he ok for that?”

“That’s not a problem,” the doctor said. “I’m just finishing up. Mister Darban, you’re healing up nicely. I expect I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time to replace these bandages again. Only one or two more days and you’ll be all healed up.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Darban nodded. “Thank you.”

Kalonia gathered her things and left the room, leaving Darban and Jess alone. 

“What is it, Jessika?” 

“Darban, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you a question about the Apparatchik.” 

The young man shifted awkwardly but nodded. “What is it?”

“I need to know: does the Apparatchik have access to an IMX-120?”

“A what?” 

“It’s a type of ship,” Jess explained. 

Darban shook his head. “I don’t know what kind of ship an IMX-120 is,” the young man replied.

“It’s an old prison ship—it would have a lot of cells and gravity can be manipulated on it,” Jess explained. 

“Would the cells have smooth walls?” Darban asked.

“Yeah, exactly.” 

Darban nodded. “Then yes, he has a ship like that.” 

“Good.” Jess hesitated. “I need to ask you something else.”

“What is it?”

“Did you hear Fallor say anything about plans to capture a pilot?” 

The young Festan recoiled slightly. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’re safe here. Fallor can’t get you here—we’ll protect you. Did he say anything about holding someone for ransom?”

“I heard him talking to someone on the comm—not sure who—about the Magistrate from Corulag’s son.” 

“Kriff,” Jess hissed. “Ok, what else?”

“He said that they could use him as leverage.” 

Jess clenched her jaw. “Alright. Thanks,” she said as she stood. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Wait!” Darban stopped her. “You’re going after him?”

“Yeah.”

“You shouldn’t. He’ll kill you.”

“He can try. But he has my friend and I’m getting him back,” Jess said. 

“Jessika, please…don’t go,” Darban said. “You don’t know what he can do.” 

Jess smiled ruefully at him. “I have to go—I’m not gonna let Niv die. I’ll see you when I get back. And I am coming back. Count on it.” She turned and left the treatment room. 

Poe was waiting by his X-Wing when Jess got back to the hangar. “Well?” he asked.

“Darban says Fallor has a ship like that. He didn’t know what it was called, but…I’ll take that as evidence,” Jess said. “And he heard the Apparatchik talking to someone about using Niv against his mom. Fallor is behind this, and now we know for sure that he is. We could take this to Command and—" 

They were interrupted by the sound of the door to the hangar sliding open, revealing General Organa and Suralinda. 

“Captain, Commander, a word?” Organa called.

Jess inhaled sharply. “Busted,” she whispered as they crossed the hangar to General Organa.

“What can we do for you, General?” Poe asked.

“Captain,” Organa said, ignoring Poe.

“Yes, General?” Jess asked.

“I know you spoke to the Magistrate and her husband,” the General began, “and I want to know what was said.” 

Jess nodded. “I asked her if she knew the Apparatchik. She confirmed that she did. And I asked her if she thought he was capable of something like this. She called him ‘ambitious and dangerous.’ So yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s capable.” 

“You suspect the Apparatchik,” Suralinda surmised. 

“Both of us do, yes,” Poe confirmed, backing Jess up.

“Why do you think he’s behind this?” Organa asked. 

“Because without Corulag…we’re dead in the water. And the Apparatchik knows that. We’d have to agree to his terms to stand a chance against the First Order,” Jess said. 

Organa considered Jess’s conclusion for a moment. “How did he even know Lek is Lita’s son?” 

“He said he recognized him,” Jess said. “Met him a long time ago at some event when Niv was a kid. The Leks confirmed that they have met Fallor before.” 

“And you believed him when he said that he remembered and recognized the child of a foreign diplomat over a decade later?” Organa raised an incredulous eyebrow.

“It was a tense conversation! I was a little distracted and didn’t think too much about it,” Jess defended herself. 

Organa turned to Poe. “How could he have known that Lek would be out on a mission?” 

“I don’t know how he could have. I think it was just bad luck on our part, good on his,” Poe said. “I think he knew that Niv was with us and was going to bide his time until he could get to him. When I sent Lek out, I’d guess Fallor saw an opportunity and he took it. What’s going on, General?”

“I think your suspicions are right. I received word from Ord Mantell’s High Council: their operative has stopped communicating with them. They believe that he was discovered and has likely been spaced.” 

Jess swallowed thickly. “What does that mean for us?” 

“It means that Vic Fallor never made it back to Ord Mantell and is now a fugitive from his own planet. And we’ve angered him,” Organa said. She smirked knowingly. “I assumed that you two would have deduced that he might be behind Lieutenant Lek’s abduction by now.” 

Jess and Poe shared a look. 

“Um…sorry?” Jess offered.

“Don’t apologize. I want you to pursue that lead. Find the Apparatchik. Find Lek,” Organa ordered. “The Lieutenant’s safety is your priority, but if you can find and capture Fallor, even better. I’d rather you bring him in alive, but if that isn’t possible, don’t let him get to the First Order. Whatever it takes. This is no longer off the books—the delegation from Ord Mantell is now considered a certified threat and you have all of our resources at your disposal. Take whatever ships, personnel, and equipment you need. If you feel that all of Black Squadron will be necessary, take them. Do whatever you need to get Lek back.” 

“We don’t have the fuel to send everyone’s ship,” Poe said quietly to Organa.

“Use the reserve,” the General said.

“General, are you sure?” Poe asked. 

“Thanks to your earlier efforts, we’ll be replenished in a few days. Lek doesn’t have that long,” Organa replied. “And the Leks have offered any additional funding that we need to get their child home safely.”

“General…does the rest of Command know you’re doing this?” Jess asked. “I got the feeling earlier that Erach wouldn’t support something like this.”

“Right now, _I_ am Command,” Organa said firmly. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe nodded. He looked at Jess. “Think three X-Wings and a shuttle will do it?”

“Yeah,” Jess agreed. “And _Strato_ is good to go, I worked on it yesterday. Plus, it’s well-armed.”

“Perfect. I’ll gather Black Squadron,” Poe said.

“I want wheels up in ten minutes, Dameron,” Organa ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe said, running back towards the bunks.

Once Poe was gone, Jess turned to Organa. “General, I want to bring Finn with us.” 

“Tell me why,” Organa ordered. “Give me a reason.”

“He knows what we’re looking for—he identified the type of ship Lek is being held on and knows how it functions. I think he’ll be an asset to us on this mission,” Jess explained.

“Fair enough, take him,” the General said, but then hesitated. “Pava, based on your history with Fallor, your friendship with Lieutenant Lek, and your own personal history…I need you to tell me that this isn’t personal.” 

Jess looked away and inhaled sharply before turning her gaze back to Organa. “Hell yeah it’s personal, but I want Niv back more than I want revenge. I don’t care who’s behind it. I can do this, General. Trust me.” 

“That’s good enough for me. Go get Finn,” Organa said with a wave of her hand.

“Thank you, General,” Jess said, already running for the door.

“Wheels up in ten, Pava!” the General shouted after her. 

For the second time that day, Jess was running through the corridors. She ran into her room to pull on her flight suit and boots, grabbed her Go-Bag, tucked her helmet under her arm, and was out the door less than ninety seconds later. She turned to her left and continued through the halls until she reached Finn’s bunk and keyed the door open without announcing herself. 

“Finn!” Jess said loudly as she came to a stop in his room.

“Pava?” Finn asked as he pulled off the blindfold. “What is it?”

“Grab your Go-Bag. We have a mission,” Jess said. 

“Lek?” Finn asked.

“Yeah. We’re getting him back,” Jess said with a hint of a smile.

Finn was on his feet in a flash and grabbed his Go-Bag from the closet.

“Let’s go.”

Jess and Finn arrived in the hangar moments before Karé, Snap, Iolo, and Poe came in, all dressed in their orange flight suits and carrying their Go-Bags. 

“Who’s left on base?” Organa asked.

“I let Rik Saren know he’s Relief Commander until we get back. There are twenty-three other pilots still on base from the various squads—eight of whom I trust to fly solo, the other fifteen can fly with a squad leader,” Poe replied. “We’re not leaving you defenseless.” 

“And I’ll still be here, General,” Suralinda said. “Might not be Black Squadron right now, but I’m no slouch.” 

“Good,” Organa said. She looked around the small circle. “I don’t want any of you to worry about us. I want you to bring Lek home. That is your only objective. Anything else is a bonus.” 

“We will, General,” Poe said. “Karé, Snap, and Finn, you’re in the shuttle. Jess, Iolo, get in your X-Wings. We’re gonna look for the closest planet with a major Anthracite deposit. From there, Iolo will look for an ion trail and we’ll follow it until we find the ship that took Lek. Once we find it, we’ll figure out what our next move is to extract Lek. Any questions?”

“No. Let’s get the kid back,” Snap said. 

“Wait! I want to help,” a new voice called. 

They all turned to see Darban crossing the hangar towards them. 

“Darban, what are you doing here?” Jess asked. 

“Let me go with you,” he said. “I won’t be in the way. I’ll be useful—I promise. I’ve spent the last eleven years as his slave, I know everything there is to know about him. I can help you.” He hesitated. “And I want to help take him down. Please…let me have this revenge.” 

“I’m not sending anyone out for revenge,” Organa said cautiously.

“General,” Jess said quietly. “Let him come with us. Revenge or not—he needs it. Trust me. And he can help.” 

Poe glanced at Jess and then at Organa, who reluctantly gave a nod of permission.

“Okay then. Darban, you’ll be on the shuttle with Finn and the others,” Poe said.

Organa placed her hand on Poe’s shoulder and squeezed. “May the Force be with you all.” 

Jess felt her lips quirk in a hint of a smile. Every time Organa said that before a mission, Jess thought it felt like a blessing or a prayer from their General over them—that the sister of Luke Skywalker was sending the Force with them herself. It offered a serenity that Jess couldn’t explain. Spirituality had never been Jess’s thing, but the blessing made her feel like they had the Universe on their side. She hoped it was true—they would need all the help they could get to find Niv in time and bring him home alive. Jess closed her eyes and echoed the blessing in her mind. _May the Force be with us._

Poe put his gloved hand over the General’s and nodded. “Alright, squad: let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah--found family trope and all. I'm a sucker for it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

“So where do we start?” Jess asked. She hated the reason she was back in a cockpit, but she couldn’t deny how good it felt to be back up in the black. If she didn’t think she’d get reprimanded by Poe, she would have thrown her ship into a corkscrew. 

“We start by looking for Anthracite. Anyone have a lead?” Poe said.

“There are about a hundred fifty planets that have known Anthracite deposits. We’ve gotta narrow that down,” Iolo said. 

“Iolo’s right, Boss. That’s too many to check,” Snap said.

“Are you guys Black Squadron or not?” Karé said incredulously. “You’re _all_ smarter than this. We don’t need to check everything—just the planets that were near Lek’s last run.” 

“She’s got a point,” Jess said. “So where was Lek?”

Poe sighed. “He was doing the Sanrafsix Route.” 

“You sent him back out by Crait?” Jess asked. 

“He was following the code cylinder,” Poe replied. “What’s that give us?”

“Brings us down to six that are within a reasonable range: Andasala, Ma’ar Shaddam, Corva Yag, Askaj, Lasan, and Vestar,” Iolo said. “We don’t have time to go to all six. Help me narrow it down.” 

“Andasala makes way more money off spice than Anthracite, they wouldn’t mine a rare fuel,” Poe said before he thought better of it. He bit his tongue as soon as he said it—hoping no one asked how he knew that. Jess would know and Snap would have a pretty good idea, but he didn’t want anyone else asking questions. 

“Not Lasan—that planet was stripped bare by the Empire,” Jess said. Poe was grateful for her quick addition to the conversation, distracting people from his comment about spice.

“I think we can kick Askaj and Corva Yag off the list,” Finn said. 

“Give me a reason,” Poe said. 

“Askaj doesn’t have a refinery. Yeah, it has Anthracite, but you’d have to take the fuel somewhere else to make it usable,” Finn said. “Corva Yag is basically dust at this point—First Order’s depleted it of all of its resources and used it for weapons testing.” 

“They could have built a secret refinery on Askaj,” Snap argued.

“Unlikely. Askaj’s population exists as a nomadic tribal culture. Most of the tribes are twenty to thirty people max. It would be hard for someone to get enough skilled laborers, forced or otherwise, to work a mine and a refinery. That, and there’s Tomuon wool,” Iolo said. 

“What the hell is Tomuon wool?” Snap asked. “You say that like I should know. Is it nice?”

Karé laughed. “Sweetie…there’s a reason I don’t own anything made of Tomuon wool.”

“Cause…you haven’t asked?” Snap guessed hopefully. 

Karé laughed again. “Oh, babe…that’s cute. No…”

“More likely because it’s insanely expensive. Tomuon wool is the _best_ ,” Iolo said. 

“And the Keshian’s got it,” Karé said. 

“My grandmother has a pre-Clone wars Tomuon scarf. It’s _nice._ I’ve even heard rumors that Palpatine’s robes were made from it,” Iolo said. 

“Wh…why? Why do you know that?” Poe asked.

“I have an eye and appreciation for quality craftsmanship,” Iolo replied. “Anyway, my point is that even though the planet isn’t highly developed, they have intergalactic trade. It’d be hard to keep it a secret. I’m with Finn—take Askaj off the list.” 

“Ok—so that brings us down to two possibilities: Ma’ar Shaddam or Vestar. Anyone have a reason one way or the other?” Iolo asked.

“Does one of them have low gravity?” Darban asked quietly, his voice barely audible over the comms. 

“What was that?” Poe asked.

“I’m sorry,” Darban said. “I—”

“No, I didn’t hear you. What did you say?” Poe said.

“I asked if either of the remaining planets have below standard gravity.” 

“Um…yeah,” Karé said. “Vestar does. Looks like it’s about .77 of standard. Why?” 

“I think I’ve been to the refinery. I’m not sure where it was, but the gravity was lower than I was used to.” 

“That’s good enough for me,” Poe said. “Let’s get those coordinates typed in and head out. Let me know when you’re ready to jump.”

“Black-3 standing by,” Jess reported.

“Shuttle _Strato_ standing by,” Karé said.

“Black-5 standing by,” Iolo said.

“Alright. We’re on Ghost Protocol until we get to Vestar and do a scan, so that means we’re radio silent in hyperspace and until Snap gives us the all-clear. Shut down any unnecessary systems and make yourself invisible. Get ready to jump on my mark,” Poe said, finalizing his own jump. “And…punch it.” 

The stars around them stretched for a moment before the four ships snapped into hyperspace.

It was strange for Jess to be flying through hyperspace without talking to her fellow pilots. She missed their chatter, but the flickering blue filled her cockpit and the silence was, for the moment, peaceful. She closed her eyes and dozed, reveling in the gentle motion of her ship—feeling at home for the first time in months. A ping alerted Jess that she was about to exit hyperspace. She opened her eyes and sat forward, tense and alert as the ship dropped into realspace—ready to jink and fire if the need arose. But the space around them was empty. She waited, a tense finger hovering over the trigger, for Snap to give the all-clear. 

“We’re good,” Snap said eventually. “Scans are clear in all directions. We’re alone out here.” 

Jess relaxed and moved her finger away from the trigger. 

“Snap, give us a rundown,” Poe ordered. 

“Alright, welcome to Vestar,” Snap said. “Former home of the Icarii until—oh, until the Empire exterminated the entire species through biological warfare. What a great group, am I right?”

“Stick to the facts, Snap,” Poe said with an eye roll.

“Sure thing, Boss. Um…ok. There were a few human and Wookiee colonies, but according to these reports, it looks like they cleared out due to the difficulties of living in low gravity.”

“But someone’s down there mining the Anthracite,” Jess said. 

“We think. There’s no official record of any beings or colonies living on the planet anymore. Looks like most of the planet is rainforest, but records show that there used to be a refinery in the capital city, Port-Esta.”

“A refinery _in_ the city?” Finn asked.

“If the city grew up around the refinery, yeah…it’s part of their lives. It’s how they get power, how they do trade, where they work. It makes sense to have it in the city. I think that’s where we start,” Snap said. 

“Yep. Send those coordinates over. Let’s get some boots on the ground,” Poe said. 

“I hate that phrase,” Jess muttered. “’ _Boots on the ground!’_ Like…where else are our boots supposed to go?”

“Right?” Karé laughed. “Who does that remind you of?” 

“Kriffing Admiral Asil. He said it all the time. And it made even less sense when he said it because he didn’t teach anything to do with us being on the ground. He was all about flying,” Jess replied.

“He was also Lasat, so he didn’t even wear boots,” Iolo added.

Jess chuckled. “Did you know that he almost failed me in Astro-telemetry?” 

“What?” Iolo asked. “You’re incredible at Astro-tel. Why would he fail you?”

“I know, right? He didn’t like when I did the math in my head,” Jess laughed. “Wanted to ‘see my work’ or some shit.” 

“He was old school,” Snap said. “But he liked you well enough. You wouldn’t have graduated if he didn’t.” 

“Thanks,” Jess said, her voice trailing off as she thought about the deceased Admiral. The comm went silent as everyone remembered all of the people they’d lost on Hosnian Prime. As far as Jess knew, only a handful of her instructors from the Academy were still alive—only the ones who had previously retired, were lucky enough to be stationed off-planet, or had been on leave at the time of the attack. A few had left months before the attack to join Organa and the Resistance, but most of them had died at the hands of the First Order in the battle over Crait. But the ones who had still been at the Academy were gone: killed in an instant by a machine too inconceivable for words. 

“Let’s get back to the mission everyone,” Poe cleared his throat. “Alright Snap, are we close enough for a lifeform scan?” 

“Just came in range, yeah,” Snap said.

“Great. So what are we dropping into?” Poe asked.

“Preliminary scans show what looks like a small colony of humans near the city center, but no other sentient life. And on the other scan…yep, there it is. I’m picking up a huge mineral deposit of Anthracite,” Snap reported. 

“Why do we need to go down to the planet again?” Jess asked. “If we’re looking for ion particles, wouldn’t they just be out here?”

“I need a sample of the refined Anthracite to make sure we’re tracking the right ions. And we need to know how long ago they stopped for fuel so we know the decomp rate to look for,” Iolo said. “I could go down alone. It’ll take no time at all.” 

“No one’s going anywhere alone. Not when Niv’s already missing,” Poe said. “I’m not risking another pilot.”

“Something's going on down there,” Finn said, his voice distant. 

“What do you mean?” Jess asked.

“I dunno exactly. It’s a feeling, though. We should all go down,” Finn said. 

Jess had been on enough missions with Finn to know that when he had a feeling about something, it was worth checking out. His instincts were unmatched. And she knew that Poe knew it, too.

“Alright—you heard the man. Let’s set ‘em down, see what’s going on,” Poe said. 

As they dove into the atmosphere, the landscape became more defined. Cuts through the trees where rivers flowed became obvious and the transition from rainforest to plains was sharply apparent. 

“Pretty planet,” Karé said.

“It is,” Jess agreed. “Looks a bit like Dandoran.” She looked out of her cockpit to the gray line beginning to form on the horizon. “Is that the capitol to the northeast?” 

“Looks like it. We’ll put the ships down on the outskirts of town and walk in. Fly low in case they’re tracking. Element of surprise and whatnot,” Poe said. “Iolo—find us a place to land on the outskirts of town.”

“On it, Boss,” Iolo said. A few moments later, coordinates pinged on Jess’s onboard computer. 

“Alright…let’s put ‘em down,” Poe said. Jess followed his ship to a clearing and landed next to Poe. The canopy popped open and she pulled her helmet off to take a deep breath of the fresh air. She shook out her braid and released her crash-webbing. 

“That’s…weird,” Snap said as he came down the ramp from the _Strato_.

“What’s weird?” Jess asked, climbing onto the wing of her ship and jumping to the ground. She landed strangely and fell, but didn’t hit as hard as she’d expected. 

Poe laughed as he nimbly landed in a crouch and stood back up. “Forget about the gravity, Pava?” 

Jess groaned in embarrassment and hid her face in the crook of her elbow. “Right. Low gravity. What is it here again?”

“.77 of standard. Just inside the human tolerance range for long duration,” Karé said and offered Jess a hand. “Everyone, look sharp—it’ll take a bit to get your legs here. And it might make you feel a little off-balance...anxious or agitated. Just know it's normal.”

“Yes, _mom_ ,” Iolo teased. Karé smiled sarcastically and flipped him off. 

“Climbing down like that is bad for your ship anyway,” Snap scolded Jess.

“I’d put credits on my ship being in better shape than yours. Now, what’s weird?” 

“Scans are showing that all of the life signs are all kind of…clustered together,” Snap said, looking down at the datapad.

“Like a town?” Karé asked.

“No…a town would have outliers. Farms and people who want more space. This looks more…more like a camp,” Snap said darkly, turning the pad to show everyone else. 

Iolo furrowed his brow. “I don’t like the look of that.” 

“Me either,” Poe said and shrugged his bag over his shoulder. “Keep your blasters ready. Finn, I want you to take the lead, Pava—stay up in front with him. Snap and I will sweep. Everyone else, file in.”

“Yes, Commander,” Finn said. “Let’s move out.” 

The team quietly moved through the abandoned streets towards the refinery and cluster of human life. 

“Does this remind anyone else of that holo-horror _Night of the Undead Troopers_?” Iolo asked.

“You know those were real, right? The Undead Troopers, I mean,” Jess said. “And besides, that was such a trash holo. Dandoran doesn’t look anything like that. It’s way greener.” 

“Seriously, Pava? The _scenery_ is your problem with _Night of the Undead Troopers_?” Snap asked.

“I’m just saying they could have done _some_ research,” Jess said with a shrug.

“What is _Night of the Undead Troopers_?” Darban asked.

“A horror holovid that came out a few years ago,” Karé explained. “It’s set just before the Empire fell and the Empire is about to give up, but the Undead Stormtroopers don’t know that. They take over a planet and the Rebellion has to fight them. It’s a tie-in with the _Adventures of Luke Skywalker_ series.” 

“The what?” Darban asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion. 

“Holovid series about Luke Skywalker,” Jess said. “There are like, 20 in the series. They’re so good.”

“No, they’re really not,” Poe said. 

“I bet Finn hasn’t seen it, either. We should fix that,” Iolo said. 

“What you all _should_ do is quit talking,” Finn muttered. “This is supposed to be a stealth approach.”

“There’s no one here,” Iolo complained. “And it’s creepy.”

“I’m with Iolo,” Jess said. “Way too quiet. If there’s a human population here, why haven’t we seen them yet?” 

“If you weren’t talking, maybe we could hear them,” Finn replied, his eyes sweeping up and down empty streets. “Snap, where are the life signs coming from?”

“About three hundred yards ahead of us,” Snap replied. 

“Darban, does this look familiar?” Jess asked.

“I think so,” the Festan said, looking around. “Yes! That tall building, over there—that’s where the Apparatchik would land when we’d come here.” 

“Alright. Looks like we might be in the right place for the fuel,” Poe said. 

“Shh—we’re getting close. Everyone quiet,” Finn said. The rest of the group quieted and continued to follow Finn down the deserted street. As they grew closer to the life signs, the buildings became more decrepit and damaged, showing obvious signs of a battle.

“This is the middle of town—where business and commerce would have taken place. It should be obviously fancy and upscale, even when abandoned. It shouldn’t look like this,” Jess breathed to Finn. He nodded.

“What is that?” Finn muttered to himself. 

“What’s what?” Jess asked.

“There,” Finn pointed ahead. “It’s like…the buildings are just gone. Up there, see?” 

“Yeah…that’s weird,” Jess agreed. “Looks like we can get into that last building on the block from this side. What do you think—go up a few floors and see what we can see?” 

“I like it,” Finn agreed. He led the group to the edge of the building and a door. The door was closed, but with the power off, they were able to force it open. 

Quietly, the seven visitors worked their way up three flights of stairs. They crossed the open floor of what appeared to be an abandoned office building—desks and chairs scattered and forgotten all around them. 

“So creepy,” Iolo whispered. 

“Shh,” Poe whispered. “Finn, what are we doing, buddy?”

“Wanted to get a view on what’s going on down below,” Finn said quietly. “Come on.” He led the way to the windows on the far side of the building. Sun filtered through the grimy glass, but the view outside was clear.

“Hey, Boss…I think we found those life signals,” Jess said, looking down at a fenced-in area and about one hundred tall and lanky beings inside the fence perimeter. 

“I feel very short right now,” Poe said. 

“And I think Snap was right—looks like a camp,” Jess added.

“This is…wow,” Iolo said, looking down at the unusually tall beings gathered below them. For the moment, they seemed unaware of the presence of the Resistance fighters. In fact, none of them looked up at all.

“We only picked up human readings on our scans,” Finn said. “We didn’t get whatever species these guys are.” 

“Finn, I’m pretty sure they _are_ human,” Jess said. 

“Excuse me?” Finn raised an eyebrow. 

“Karé?” Jess turned to her friend. “I’m thinking Lewans?” 

“Yeah, definitely looks like Lewans Syndrome to me,” Karé said. 

“What is Lewans Syndrome?” Finn asked.

“It’s the long-term effects of a low gravity environment on a human body,” Poe said, wiping his sleeve against the glass to try and clear the view. “I’ve never seen a case this extreme. And not so widespread.” 

“So…what are you saying happened? Their parents moved to this planet and had kids in low gravity and now they’re super tall?” Finn asked.

“Not just tall. Growing up in low gravity would change way more than just their physical appearance,” Snap said. “For the effects of Lewans to be this extreme, their anatomy would be altered as well.” 

“And this isn’t one generation of Lewans,” Jess said. “This took longer.”

“Think more like…their grandparents’ grandparents’ grandparents moved here,” Iolo said. “This kind of genetic mutation takes generations.” 

“You said .77 of standard, right? That’s just barely inside the low end of the habitable gravity range. .74 and lower is considered unsustainable for human life. Even so, growing up in such low gravity would cause all sorts of health risks,” Snap said. “Organs, bone density, circulation—it’d all be affected.” 

“I mean, if they went and lived on another planet with more standard gravity, yeah, it would be excruciating. But here, it’s normal,” Karé shrugged. “I’d imagine they would have to take supplements for bone density so their bones aren’t brittle, but as for the rest of it, as long as they stay in the same relative gravity, it shouldn’t matter. They could alter their ships to have the same gravity rating and most space stations are set to about .85, so it wouldn’t be _comfortable,_ but they could definitely be on a station long enough to trade.” 

“Like Megalox, but in reverse,” Snap said.

“Basically,” Karé agreed. 

“How do you all know about this?” Finn asked.

“Academy,” Jess said. She turned and looked at Finn. “Did they not teach you about this in—”

“No,” Finn shook his head. “It was pretty much ‘if they don’t look human, shoot.’ We were told not to ask.”

“Why are they moving so slowly?” Iolo asked.

“What?” Karé asked, moving closer to the window.

“There, look,” Iolo pointed across the encampment. Exactly as Iolo had said—the tall humans were moving at a noticeably slower rate than would be expected. It was as if with every step, they were pulling a huge weight with them. 

“Kriff,” Karé muttered. 

“What?” Jess asked. 

“See those pylons?” Karé pointed.

“Yeah?”

“Pretty sure they’re Gravitational Modulators. They generate a field of higher gravitational force inside of the boundaries they make up,” Karé explained. “Mining consortiums use them on low gravity planets to keep their equipment and people grounded. They can bring almost any gravitation level to about standard.”

Jess’s eyes widened in understanding. “These people live in .77 gravity. Humans have a habitable range of 25% in either direction. If their standard _is_ .77, that means that they top out between .96 and .97. You set those things to standard and…”

“And every movement would be strenuous. Breathing, walking, hell, even blinking. And being forced to work in a mine or refinery in those conditions? Fuck—it’d be torture,” Karé finished. 

Poe turned to the young Festan. “Darban, are these people used for labor in the refinery?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I was never allowed inside of the actual refinery, just the offices,” Darban replied. “I’ve never seen them before.” 

Jess turned around and leaned the back of her head against the window. “So what are we gonna do, Boss?” she asked Poe.

“I…I'm not sure,” Poe said. “We still need a sample of the Anthracite. And it feels like we can’t just leave these people.” 

“We don’t exactly have time on our side, though,” Snap said.

Poe looked out the window. “How long do you think it would take for one of us to get down there and back?”

“Few minutes,” Finn said. “I’d be more worried about getting through the fencing.” 

“What if we don’t try to get through the fencing immediately? Just…do some recon. See if we can find a weakness or a gap or something,” Jess suggested.

“That could work,” Finn agreed. “Who do you have in mind?”

“No one’s gonna be able to blend in, so send me and Iolo,” Jess said.

“Excuse me?” Iolo said with a raised eyebrow. “How did I get volunteered for this?”

“We’re the smallest—we’ll be able to sneak around the most easily,” Jess said. “Come on, Iolo—when’s the last time you went out on a mission?”

“I don't think that sneaking into the ruins of a city qualifies as 'going out on a mission'. And I don’t need this attitude from you,” Iolo muttered. Jess elbowed him in the ribs and smirked.

“We’ll be down and back in fifteen minutes. Promise,” Jess said. 

“Go,” Poe said. “The rest of us will wait here.”

“I should go along, too…to cover them,” Finn said. 

“We’re fine, you dozy Pathfinder,” Jess teased. 

Finn sighed. “Blasters charged?”

“You know it,” Jess grinned. “Don’t worry—we’ll be back before you can miss us.”

Jess and Iolo slipped back down the stairs and out the door. They ran along the edge of the building before they darted across the street to the remnants of what looked like it used to be a public fountain, and then continued to inch their way closer and closer to the fence. 

“Why me, again?” Iolo hissed.

“Because you’re small and nimble. Now shut up,” Jess replied as she mapped out a route from hiding spot to hiding spot in her mind. “Besides, you usually like stuff like this.”

“This is a waste of time,” Iolo said. “We shouldn’t be here this long. We’ve gotta find Niv.”

Jess rolled her eyes. “We will. Now come on, we’re almost there.” 

Soon, they were just outside of the fence. 

“Whoa,” Iolo said. “Feel that?”

“Yeah…even from here you can feel the change in gravitational pull,” Jess said.

“Now what?” Iolo asked.

Jess looked back and forth along the fence. About 100 meters to their right, a lone figure sat in a huddled ball, half-hidden by a scraggly shrub. “Let’s ask them,” she said, pointing to the figure. They crept along the fence line, sticking to the underbrush and shrubs for cover until they were even with the stranger. Now that they were closer, Jess could tell that the person was a woman. She had the basic appearance of a human, but one that had been stretched taller than humans were supposed to be. By Jess’s best estimation, the woman was about nine feet tall with long, thin limbs and lean muscles. Her neck and face were narrow and slim—far more so than any other human Jess had ever met, giving her an almost ethereal quality. 

“Psst,” Jess hissed as she stepped out of the shrubs. “Hey.”

The woman jerked away from the fence in surprise, her dark eyes wide with fear before they narrowed on Jess and Iolo with something closer to contempt. 

“What are you doing here?” the woman spat. “What do you want from me?”

“Hey, hey. It’s ok,” Iolo said as soothingly as he could. He held his hands up placatingly as he stepped closer to the fence. “We don’t want anything. What’s your name?” 

“Manat,” the woman replied. 

“Manat. I’m Iolo and this is Jess. We’re—" Iolo began.

“Why do I care who you are?” Manat cut him off indignantly. 

“We’re from the Resistance. We're here to help,” Jess said earnestly. “Now, tell us what’s going on.” 

* * *

Poe glanced at his chrono. Jess and Iolo had been gone for thirteen minutes and weren’t back yet. 

“Finn, if they’re not back soon, I want you to go after them,” he told the Pathfinder. 

“Copy that, Dameron,” Finn said as he paced the wall of windows, watching the outside world closely. 

A scuff on the floor put everyone on edge as they all turned towards the sound with their blasters raised.

Jess and Iolo froze and put their hands up.

“Kriff. Put your blasters down, it’s just us,” Iolo said impatiently. Finn, Poe, Snap, and Karé lowered their blasters before Jess and Iolo lowered their hands. 

“Finally, you’re back,” Poe said.

Jess exaggeratedly looked down at her chrono. “I told you, Boss: we’d be back in fifteen minutes and it’s been fourteen,” she said with a grin.

“So what do we know?” Snap asked.

“OK, here are the basics: they are human. At least…ancestrally speaking. They call themselves the Vestari. They’re the descendants of a group of human settlers who arrived on this planet about 150 years ago—nearly seven generations. So yeah—advanced Lewans.”

“Research Doctors are gonna _flip_ at the chance to see such advanced cases,” Iolo said. “Up close, it’s even more pronounced.”

“Anyway, they’d been left alone for years—no one paid much attention to them until recently. They’re kind of a people forgotten to time, you know? Until the _‘Ma’tal’_ , as they call them, came. About five years ago, a ship landed with a heavily armed crew who put those pylons up and then forced the Vestari into labor camps to mine and refine the Anthracite. And Karé was right: those pylons are gravitational modulators,” Jess said. “The Vestari we talked to, Manat, said she hasn’t seen the boss in months—but described him like Fallor. It looks like the guy’s into more shit than we knew. _And_ she said that a shuttle came down to pick up a huge amount of fuel three days ago.” 

“How are they controlling them?” Poe asked.

“Predominantly with the gravity modulators. The gravitational force is lesser around the perimeter, but in the middle where the factory is, it’s really intense and painful. Hard to rebel when basic movement is difficult. But there’s also a handful of pretty well-armed guards and some security droids,” Iolo answered. “Manat said that they keep the weapons in a locked storage room in the refinery.”

Poe frowned. Iolo seemed…anxious.

“How many is a handful?” Snap asked.

“Manat made it sound like there’s about twenty-five of them spread across three shifts,” Jess said. 

“We have to do something,” Karé said.

“Agreed. Darban, think you could find your way through the office levels of the refinery?” Poe asked.

“Yes,” Darban nodded.

“Ok, good. Now we just have to get in,” Poe said.

“This. This right here is why I should have come alone,” Iolo hissed and distanced himself from the group. 

“What was that, Arana?” Poe asked, turning towards his friend.

Iolo clenched his jaw, his agitation growing. “Now we’re gonna get tied up in whatever mess is being cooked up on this planet. All we needed was a sample of the Anthracite and now we’re in the middle of whatever this is.” He waved his hand in the direction of the refinery. “Look—I’m not trying to be insensitive or callus or whatever here. You know that. You know me. Obviously, they need help. But we don’t have _time_ for this!”

Poe was surprised by Iolo’s response. He knew that Iolo and Niv were close—they were each other’s wingman, they had to be—but he hadn’t anticipated Iolo having such a strong response to a suggested delay. A small voice in his brain reminded him that low gravity caused anxiety and agitation and that it affected people at different rates.

“What do you want us to do, Iolo?” Poe asked levelly, trying to keep the other man calm.

“Let’s just get the sample and get out of here. We’ll find Lek and get him back to base. Then we can come back and help these people,” Iolo suggested.

“But we’re here now. And we have to get in the refinery to get a sample anyways, so why shouldn’t we help them on the way?” Jess said. “So the real question is what are we gonna do?”

“So you’d let Niv die?” Iolo argued. “We’re racing against the clock here, Pava!”

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re the only one who cares about Niv, Iolo. Before he was your friend, he was mine,” Jess replied sharply.

“I never said—” Iolo started.

“Both of you, cool it,” Snap ordered. “The low gravity is messing with your heads and putting you on edge. You know how it works. Don’t do this. Not now.”

“I have an idea,” Finn interrupted them.

Poe turned to look at Finn, grateful for the interruption. “Yeah?”

Finn sighed and looked sideways at Poe. “Yeah. But I don’t think you’re gonna like it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my universe, "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker" series is basically like "The Fast and The Furious" series. They're not high art by any stretch of the imagination (and whether or not they're 'good' is up for debate), but they're fun popcorn movies. And they just keep putting more and more out with even wilder storylines. 
> 
> Thank you for reading/commenting/kudos-ing!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

“A rebellion. That’s your big idea. You want to stage a rebellion,” Jess said flatly. 

“And you think it’ll happen…just like that?” Karé raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, just like that,” Finn said.

“You’re right: I don’t like it,” Jess said.

“You both just said we should do something!” Finn argued. 

“Yeah, I meant we should like, take out some pylons or something, disrupt the gravity modulators, not send this planet into chaos. Finn, rebellions take time. Supplies. Organization. Not seven people with an hour and a grudge,” Jess argued. “I mean, it took years for the Rebellion to gain any kind of traction against the Empire.” 

“This isn’t the Empire!” Finn shouted. “It’s twenty-five thugs-for-hire with blasters. I’ve gone in against worse odds. We all have.” 

“Finn,” Jess sighed. 

“You said that the Resistance doesn’t cut bait! You told me that! Do you remember?” Finn asked, his eyes flashing.

Jess chewed on her lip. “Yeah, Finn. Of course I remember that.” 

Finn turned to look at Poe. “What do you think?” 

“Why are you putting me in the middle of this?” Poe asked. 

“Because I know you agree with me,” Finn said.

“That’s low,” Poe said.

“It’s true,” Finn argued. 

“And you’re the Commander,” Jess said. Poe looked over to see Jess clenching and unclenching her jaw. “So ultimately…what you say goes,” she sighed. 

“I’m with Pava. We don’t have time to stage a rebellion,” Iolo said. 

“You should agree with me, too, Pava,” Finn snapped. 

“Cool it, Finn,” Karé warned. “Low grav is getting to you.” 

"No, it's not," Finn countered. "Your hypocrisy is getting to me." 

“Watch yourself, Finn. You’re on shaky ground,” Jess said in a low voice.

“We have a mission to save one of our own. I’m not saying that helping here isn’t important, but Niv runs out of air in less than a day,” Iolo shouted back. 

“So what? We tell them ‘sorry, we’ll come back for you’ and leave? That’s bullshit and you know it,” Finn said. 

“That’s not what any of us said—” Jess started.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. You said it yourself: Poe decides,” Finn cut her off. 

Jess threw her hands up and walked over to the windows. She leaned back against the glass and crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at Finn. Her annoyance was tangible. 

“So what will it be?” Finn asked as he turned to look expectantly at Poe. 

Poe sighed and looked between his friends. “Jess and Iolo are right, we don’t have time,” Poe said. “Niv’s window of oxygen is getting smaller by the minute.” 

“You’re the one who always tells me that we’re the Resistance and the Resistance helps people. Who are we if we don’t help them?” Finn demanded.

Poe looked at his friends.

“He has a point,” Snap said with a shrug. Poe clenched his jaw, considering his options. 

“Whatever you say, Boss, we’re there,” Karé said softly. 

His eyes met Jess’s and held her gaze. She inhaled sharply and nodded. 

Poe sighed. “Do we have a map?” he asked.

“Here,” Finn said. He dropped his datapad on a dusty desk and flicked on the projector, showing a blueprint of the refinery. “Found it in the planet’s records while we were waiting for Jess and Iolo to do their recon.” 

“Darban—where’s the weapons storage room?” Poe asked. 

Darban looked at the holomap. “Here,” he said, pointing to a room. “This is where they kept the weapons.” 

“Pava, thoughts on the map?” 

Jess sighed and stepped forward to get a closer look at the map. “If we sabotage the locks here and here,” she said, pointing to two entry points into the refinery, “and take out the gravity modulators around the perimeter,” she indicated to the fence, “they’ll stand a chance,” she shrugged. “If we can get into the weapons vault and arm them…even better,” she indicated to the same room that Darban had pointed out. “They outnumber the guards five to one. It’s…it’s not impossible.” She looked at Poe. “Like I said: your call, Boss.” 

Poe looked at the map. “One hour. We do all we can for one hour, then we get back in our ships and keep looking for Lek.” 

“Deal,” Finn said, clearly relieved that they wouldn’t be leaving the Vestari imprisoned. 

“Finn—lay it out. How you want to do this?” Poe said.

“Who’s good with locks?” Finn asked.

Jess, Poe, and Karé raised their hands. 

“Jess and Karé, you two are each going for a door. Jess, you’ll go to the north, Karé to the south. Once you get it open, sabotage the lock. Make sure they can’t lock it again. Jess, once you’re in, get a sample for Iolo. You’re gonna be closer to the refinery floor.” 

“Iolo, how much do you need?” Jess asked.

Iolo ground his teeth. “Couple ounces will do it.” 

“Alright—Poe, you’re going with Karé. As soon as she gets that door open, the two of you beeline it to the weapons vault. Grab anything you can carry.”

“You got it,” Karé said.

Finn hesitated for a moment. “Actually, Darban, you go with them, too. You know the building better than any of us.” 

“I do?” Darban asked.

“You’ve been here before. None of us have. Yeah, you do,” Finn said. 

“How are we gonna get in?” Jess asked.

Karé sighed and looked at Finn. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”

Finn nodded.

“Figured what out?” Poe asked.

“The thing about the barrier those pylons are creating—you can walk into the encampment, but you can’t walk out. So once we’re in, we can’t get out without help,” Karé said.

“And we’re gonna be relying on you guys to get us out,” Finn said, looking to Snap and Iolo. “You two are gonna take out as many of the pylons as you can. Get back to the ships, and take that fence down. Once those things are down, the Vestari can move freely again and, equally importantly, we can get out. We’ll give them the weapons and let them unleash hell.” 

“What will you be doing?” Karé asked.

“I’m gonna go talk with the Vestari and make sure they’re ready,” Finn said.

“Ok, maybe I was wrong. You make rebellion sound easy,” Jess said with a grin. 

Finn’s lips quirked. 

“Remember, we only have one hour—so move quickly,” Poe said. “We’ll meet back at the ships.”

“Pava—where’s your starter?” Snap asked.

“You think I’m letting you take my ship?” Jess asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep. Starter—now. Gimme,” Snap said, holding his hand out. 

Jess sighed and pulled the starter from her pocket and tossed it to him. “Not a scratch, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Snap nodded. “Iolo, ready to go?” 

“Yeah. Ten seconds. I need a word with our Commander,” Iolo said. 

“Be quick,” Snap said and started across the office floor.

Poe turned to face Iolo. “What is it, Arana?”

“If we miss Lek by an hour—it’s on you,” Iolo said in a low voice.

“Stand down, Iolo,” Poe said quietly. “This isn’t like you and you know it. Think about it: you haven’t been in sub-standard gravity in months and it’s affecting you more than usual. Get to your ship—let’s do this.”

“Whatever,” Iolo said and shouldered past Poe. 

“Iolo!” Poe shouted and started after the Keshian before Jess caught his wrist and stopped him. 

“Let him go,” Jess said quietly. “Niv is his wingman and best friend, so the stakes feel especially high for him. He’ll cool down, but right now, we’ve got work to do.” 

Poe nodded. Jess was right.

“So Finn—what am I gonna carry the Anthracite back in?” 

“Um…” Finn looked around. “This,” he said, grabbing an old water flask from one of the desks.

“Thrifty,” Jess said as she accepted the flask and turned it over in her hand. 

“Everyone good?” Poe asked. 

“Yeah, Boss. Let’s go—clock’s ticking,” Jess said, tossing the bottle up in the air and catching it before shoving it into her pocket. She grinned and started off towards the stairs. 

Karé shrugged and followed Jess. “Coming, Darban? Finn?” 

The other two men looked at Poe, who rolled his eyes and gestured for them to follow after the women. 

* * *

Getting into the encampment had been easy. 

In fact, getting all the way up to the refinery had been easy. Far easier than Jess had been expecting. 

“I want everyone to keep count of anyone they take out so we have a good number to tell the Vestari.” 

“You got it, Boss,” Jess nodded. “Finn—you’re gonna bring the Vestari here?” 

“That’s my plan,” Finn agreed. 

“Quick question—how explosive is Anthracite?” Jess asked.

“Why?” Poe raised an eyebrow.

“If I fire my blaster and miss, am I going to blow us all up?” she asked. 

“Maybe,” Finn said.

“ _Maybe?_ ” Jess repeated incredulously. 

“Just…don’t miss. See you guys in a few,” Finn said and headed towards the Vestari’s village. 

“Is he serious?” Jess asked, watching him disappear. 

“Processed Anthracite needs a much higher temperature than a blaster bolt to ignite,” Karé said. “But if you’re near the raw stuff…just be careful.” 

“Great,” Jess muttered. She pulled her blaster out and fiddled with the settings to lower the intensity of the bolts. “How about microscopic particles in the air?” 

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Karé said.

“You and Finn aren’t making me feel super confident here, Karé. _Shouldn’t be_?” 

Karé shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. Haven’t had to deal with it before. But if Malastarian Fuel is anything to go off of, airborne particles won’t be an issue.” 

“Unless it’s like Rhydonium,” Jess countered. “Then they’re a big issue.” 

“Well, if that’s the case, we’re all dead,” Poe said. “Jess—you good alone?” 

“Little late for that,” Jess sighed. “I’ll be fine. See you on the outside,” she said with a wink and darted around the building to the far door. 

Jess found the door quickly and scoffed: the lock panel was pre-Rebellion and barely functional. To anyone with a base-level understanding of electronics, it was a joke of a security measure. She popped off the panel cover to expose the wiring and cut one wire to open the door and a second to disable the lock. With a glance over her shoulder, she replaced the panel cover and darted inside as the door slid shut behind her. 

“Alright…if I was a refined Anthracite sample, where would I be?” Jess whispered to herself. “Would it be too much to ask for them to put up a sign?” she huffed. 

The refinery’s hallways were dark and narrow and—in Jess’s most certainly unbiased opinion—creepy. She held still and listened for a hint of which way to go. A faint metallic clang echoed from her left. 

“That way,” Jess said and turned a corner…only to come face to face with two guards.

The two middle-aged humans, one tall and overweight, the other short and wiry, were startled for a moment before they raised their blasters and aimed them at her.

“Hey!” What are you doing here?” the taller one demanded.

“Who are you?” the second guard shouted. 

Jess slowly raised her hands. “Is this not where you go for the tour?” she asked innocently.

“The what?” the larger man asked.

“You’re not Vestari,” the second man said. “How did you get here?” 

“I’m confused. Do you not do tours today?” Jess asked. “I swear, the brochure said there were daily tours.” 

“What are you talking about?” the short man demanded. 

“Now is lunch included in the tour, or is that an additional fee?” Jess said, slowly lowering her hands. 

“Keep your hands up!” the tall man shouted. 

“So is this a self-guided tour or something? I didn’t see a box office to pay at,” Jess continued to lower her hands until her hand was almost even with her blaster. “Or do I pay you directly? Your brochure was a little sparse on the details.” 

“What brochure? There is no tour!” the smaller man yelled in annoyance. 

“Don’t move!” the large guard shouted again.

Before either of the guards realized what was happening, Jess drew her blaster and dropped to a knee. She took aim and fired two shots, dropping both guards in a matter of seconds. 

“So much for the tour,” Jess muttered.

She continued down the hall, the smell of fuel growing stronger as she went. The metallic sounds also grew louder and soon, Jess could feel vibrations from the machinery in her feet. She was getting close. 

A clatter to her right had Jess pulling out her blaster again, aiming it at the source of the noise. From the shadows, five young Vestari stepped out, the tallest standing in front of the others. Though they were all as tall as or taller than Jess, it was clear to her that they were children. Anger flashed through her.

“Hi,” Jess said slowly and lowered her blaster. “Hey. What…what are you doing here?” 

“What are _you_ doing here?” the oldest boy countered. 

“Fair point. I’m Jess—I’m here to help,” Jess said. “My friends are outside taking down the pylons and breaking into the weapons vault. I need to get a sample of the refined Anthracite. Can you help me?”

“You can’t destroy the pylons,” he said. “Don’t you think we’ve tried?”

“You can’t destroy them from the inside without weapons, true,” Jess agreed. “But we’ve got a couple of X-Wings and some pissed off pilots on the outside.” 

“What do you want?” the Vestari asked warily. 

Jess frowned. “What’s your name, kid?” 

“Kito.” 

“Kito,” Jess repeated. “How old are you?”

“Old enough,” he said defensively. 

“And how old is that?” Jess repeated calmly. She knew this kind of protective attitude. Hell, she’d perfected it. 

“Sixteen,” he said.

Jess raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Kito shifted uncomfortably. “Fourteen.”

“There we go. And how about you friends?” 

“Don’t worry about them,” Kito said sharply.

“Younger than you, then,” Jess said. “Look, Kito—you’re old enough to remember life before the guards, the pylons, the work—all of it. We can help you go back to that.”

“Why do you want to help us?” he asked, his tone tinged with a mix of caution and hope. 

“Why are we helping? Cause that’s what we do. But I need your help, too.” 

Kito looked back at the kids behind him and then back at Jess. “What do you need?”

“Can you help me get a sample of the Anthracite?” Jess asked. “The refined stuff.” 

“So you’re just here for fuel,” Kito surmised.

Jess held out the flask. “Just enough to fill this.” 

“That won’t fuel a ship,” Kito said.

“I know. We want it to track a ship that’s been here for fuel. We don’t want to take advantage of your people or your work,” Jess said.

“So if I help you…you’ll help us?” Kito asked.

“Buddy…this isn’t some transaction. I’m helping either way,” Jess said with a hint of a smile. “But I’d appreciate it if you helped me, too.” 

Kito considered for a second before nodding. He turned to look back at the four younger Vestari. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” After the other kids nodded and stepped farther back into the shadows, Kito looked back at Jess. “Follow me.” 

Jess kept her blaster out as she followed Kito down the hallway and around a corner.

“What are you all doing in here, anyway?” Jess asked.

“They keep the children separate from the adults to have leverage over our parents,” Kito said. “They threaten to send us down to the mines if production levels fall.”

“Will they actually do it?” Jess asked. “Send you to the mines?”

“Yes. Those are the children of yesterday’s shift. Their numbers were too low…so I was trying to get them out of the refinery and back to the village where we could hide them before they could be sent underground.”

Jess swallowed thickly. “That’s horrible.”

“The mines are run by droids. They don’t care about the children—if they’re tired or thirsty or if they get hurt,” Kito said.

“Things are gonna change, kid. Once you don’t have to fight gravity and you’re armed…you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

Kito looked down at her. “I’m scared to believe you.”

“Give it some time—you’ll see,” Jess said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

Two more hallways and three antiquated lock panels later, Kito paused in front of a large door. 

“What is it?” Jess asked.

“We can’t be seen. There are guards on the floor—so you need to stick close to me and stay quiet,” Kito said quietly. Jess nodded in agreement and Kito opened the final door that led onto the refinery floor. 

Jess froze. The refinery was huge and loud with machines and catwalks in every direction. From where she stood, Jess could see at least thirty Vestari throughout the facility. 

“How many of your people are there?” Jess asked quietly. 

“One hundred fifty-seven,” Kito replied. The sound of voices coming towards them startled them. Kito grabbed Jess’s arm and pulled her behind a large dumbwaiter. Moments later, two guards passed by and exited the door they’d just come through. 

“Will your friends be ok?” Jess asked.

“They’ll be fine,” Kito said. “They know how to hide.”

“Alright…good.” Jess looked around. “Where can I get a sample?” 

“Over here,” Kito said and slid along the wall. 

Jess followed the young Vestari until he reached a large collection of shipping crates. 

“In here,” he said, indicating to one of the crates. He popped the lid open to reveal a shimmering white powder. “Is this what you need?”

“This is refined Anthracite?” Jess asked.

“Yes,” Kito confirmed.

“Perfect,” Jess said and pulled out the flask from her pocket. Carefully, she filled it with the white powder before she screwed the lid tightly closed and stepped away from the container. 

“That it?” Kito asked.

“That’s it,” Jess said and pocketed the flask. “Let’s get out of here.” 

Kito nodded and secured the lid back on the crate. They had almost reached the door when they heard metallic footsteps behind them. 

“Hold it,” a mechanical voice said. 

Jess and Kito froze and lifted their hands over their heads. Jess turned around to face two security droids. “At ease,” Jess said calmly. “I’m here for a routine inspection. Sent by the Boss himself.” 

Kito turned his head a fraction and looked at her with betrayal. She winked back at him. 

“Inspection?” one of the droids asked. “There is no inspection scheduled.”

“Wouldn’t be a surprise inspection, then, would it?” Jess replied.

“Error. The previous statement qualified the inspection as a routine inspection, not a surprise inspection. You are an unauthorized variance to protocol. Security aler—”

Before the droid could raise the alert, Jess drew her blaster and fired two shots, destroying the droids.

“Man, I am never gonna live down that _Great Destroyer_ moniker if any of the droids back on base find out about this,” Jess muttered. 

“Great Destroyer?” Kito asked.

“It’s not important. Just a dumb thing the Resistance droids say. Anyway. Now that those security droids are taken care of, let’s find your friends and get out of here,” Jess said. “Come on.” 

“Sounds good,” Kito said and opened the door. 

“Hey—quick question: can airborne microparticles of Anthracite ignite from blaster fire?” Jess asked as they jogged down the hall. 

“No, the microparticles don’t. But raw Anthracite can. Until it is refined, it is highly incendiary,” Kito said. 

“Huh. Good to know,” Jess said casually. 

“You didn’t know that when you fired your blaster?” Kito asked incredulously.

“Nope,” Jess grinned. “Glad I didn’t miss, though.” 

“Me, too,” the young man agreed. “Come on—this way.” 

* * *

Poe, Darban, and Karé raced back down the stairs, each carrying as many weapons as they could manage. The storage room had been filled with blasters, rifles, thermal detonators, riot batons, vibro-pikes, and a handful of wrist rocket launchers. 

They were halfway down the stairs when they felt the gravity shift and everything felt lighter.

“Looks like your husband got the pylons taken care of,” Poe said.

“Isn’t he a catch?” Karé laughed and turned down the next flight of stairs. “Breaking me out of a prison encampment. Will the romantic gestures never cease?”

Poe chuckled and continued to follow Karé down the stairs. 

“Darban, you doing ok?” he asked the young man behind him.

“I’m fine, Sir, thank you,” he replied.

“Poe. Not Sir. Haven’t been a fan of that term for a long time,” Poe said, remembering when he’d first gained an aversion to the honorific on the way back from Ibanjji.

“Of course, Poe,” Darban said.

“You sure you’re good?” Poe asked again.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Darban replied. “I’m sure.” 

“Ok,” Poe nodded. “We’re almost there.” 

When they exited the refinery, they found Finn waiting with a cluster of Vestari.

“There you are!” Finn said stepping closer. “I was about to get worried.” 

“We’re fine,” Poe said. “Ran into a few guards, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“How many?” 

“Four,” Karé responded. 

Poe looked around and frowned. “Where’s Pava?”

“She isn’t with you?” Finn said. 

“No. I haven’t seen her since we split up.” Poe looked around anxiously. “I’m going back in.”

“Why?” A voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Jess making her way towards them, followed by five young Vestari. 

“To try and find you. Where’ve you been?” Poe asked.

“I was busy,” Jess said.

“And you found some friends,” Poe said. 

Jess shrugged. “I’m here now—with time to spare.”

“You good?”

“Fine,” she smiled. “How about you guys? Get the weapons?”

“Yeah, we’re all here with plenty of blasters. Did you get the sample?” Poe asked.

Jess held up the flask to show Poe the shimmering white powder. “Yep.” 

“Good work,” Poe said with a smile. 

“Jess! Poe!” Finn called. The two pilots crossed over to Finn.

“What’s up?” Jess asked. 

“Jess, you’ve already met Manat. This is their Community Elder, Leader Shem,” Finn introduced. “Manat, Leader Strom, this is Jess Pava and Poe Dameron.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Poe said. 

“For us as well. Finn tells me that you procured weapons for us,” the Vestari leader said in a deep voice.

“Yeah. As many as we could carry,” Poe said and indicated to the pile of weapons that he, Karé, and Darban had collected. “The lock on the weapon’s storage room has also been disabled, so you can get more once you’re inside.” 

“On behalf of my people, I thank you,” Strom said. 

“We need to go,” Jess said quietly to Poe.

“I know,” he whispered and turned back to the Vestari. “We also took care of four guards.” 

“Six,” Jess corrected. Poe looked at her and she shrugged. “I took out two guards plus two security droids.” 

Poe was impressed. “Good work. Ok, so we took out six guards,” Poe corrected. “That should be most of this shift. The rest, unfortunately, we need to leave up to you. Leader Strom, I’m sorry that we can’t help you further—”

“There is no need for apologies, Poe Dameron,” Strom said. “Finn has told us about your mission to save your friend. You must go before time runs out.” 

“I’m sorry we can’t do more,” Poe said.

“You have done enough,” Strom said. “We will defend our home now.” 

“We’ll come back as soon as we can,” Finn promised. 

“And we will look forward to welcoming you back as friends when we are again a free people,” Strom said. 

“Can I ask you a question before we go?” Jess asked.

“Of course,” Strom replied. 

“Has anyone come for a large pickup of Anthracite in the past few days?” she asked.

“Yes. A shuttle landed three days ago and picked up a very large shipment to be delivered,” the elder said. 

Jess dug her datapad out of her pocket and pulled up a picture of Vic Fallor. “Was this him?”

“No,” Strom shook his head. “I am familiar with Apparatchik Fallor. He has been here many times, but he was not the one who picked up the fuel.” 

“Did you know the man who did?” Jess pressed.

“He wasn’t familiar to any of us,” Strom said. 

Poe could tell Jess was trying to hide her disappointment. “I see. Thanks for looking.” 

Strom smiled sadly. “That does not mean he wasn’t involved, though. He is a crafty being. Now go, while you still can. Find your friend. Save the galaxy.” 

“May the Force be with you,” Poe said.

“As it is with you,” Strom replied. He turned back to his people, all of whom had selected a weapon. “And now, my friends: we fight.” 

* * *

“Strom said that Fallor wasn’t our guy,” Jess said as they raced back towards their ships. “So what now?”

“Fallor might not have picked up the Anthracite, but everything else lines up too well for it to be anyone but him. Hell, the Vestari even call them the _‘Ma’tal’_. That sure sounds close to Ord Mantell to me. I say we follow the trail,” Karé offered. 

“And Strom was familiar with Fallor—said he’d been there before, so at least one of his ships runs on Anthracite. And I’d put credits on him being behind the forced labor camp. Like Kun said: _Ma’tal_ sounds suspiciously like ‘Mantell’ to me,” Poe said. He lifted his comm to his mouth. “Iolo, you read?”

“Loud and clear, Boss,” Iolo responded.

“Be ready to do your analysis once we’re back. When you find that trail, we’re gonna follow it,” Poe ordered.

“Yes, Commander,” Iolo replied, “I’ll get to work on it as soon as you get back and I get that sample.” 

The five of them had just reached the ships when they heard the first explosion. Jess turned around and looked back at the smoke rising from the refinery.

“Think they’re gonna be ok?” Jess asked.

“They don’t need us to be their heroes,” Karé said as she opened the ramp to the shuttle. 

“They have the weapons and the willpower…we just helped level the playing field. They’ll be fine,” Finn said confidently. He smirked. “They can be their own heroes.” 

“We’ll come back after we find Lek and bring him home…just to check in,” Poe said.

“Hey! Sample!” Iolo called. Jess tossed the flask up to him. 

“Thank you,” Iolo said and slipped back down into his seat. 

Snap climbed down the ladder from Blue-3. 

“How was she?” Jess asked.

“I might need you to do some calibration on my ship when we get home. Damn, if your acceleration isn’t smooth,” Snap said. 

Jess smirked. “I could give you a hand. Starter?”

“I could fly it, you know. You and Karé could get some lady-time on the shuttle,” Snap said.

Jess scrunched up her face. “Lady time? Eww.” 

“Never say that again,” Karé shouted from the ship. 

“What your wife said. Starter,” Jess said, holding out her hand. 

Snap tossed the starter back to her. 

“Thank you,” Jess said and walked over to her ship. She started circling it, looking for any damage. “Not a scratch, right?”

“Not a scratch, Testor. I’m a man of my word,” Snap swore.

“Iolo, how’s that sample coming?” Poe asked.

“Almost there,” Iolo replied. “Just getting some final variances.”

“Keep it up,” Poe said. He walked over to where Jess was leaning against her nosecone and settled next to her.

“Hey Boss,” Jess greeted softly.

Poe nodded and sighed, his _‘Commander Poe Dameron’_ personality slipping for a moment—something she knew he only did around a few people. “What’s our time look like?” he whispered to her.

“Just under sixteen hours,” Jess replied quietly.

“Kriff,” Poe whispered.

“I know,” Jess sighed. “But we’ll make it, Boss. We have to.”

Poe nodded. “We will.” 

“It’s done!” Iolo called. “I’ve got the analysis and will be able to identify the ion trail once we’re in space.”

“Great. Everyone, load up,” Poe ordered loudly—flyboy persona back in place. 

Jess climbed back up into her ship and dropped into her seat, only to find that the controls were out of reach.

“Snap, you adjusted everything!” she complained into her comm unit.

“Not my fault you’re short,” he retorted.

“Giant,” Jess grumbled as she readjusted her seat and instruments. 

“Ewok,” Snap teased. 

Jess rolled her eyes. She pulled her helmet on and secured her harness before lifting her ship off the ground and following Poe and Iolo into orbit. 

“Alright, Arana—tell me what you’ve got,” Poe said once they were out of the planet’s atmosphere.

“I’ve got that ion trail, Commander. Coordinates being sent now,” Iolo said. “Looks like they jumped.”

“You’ve sure you’ve got a clear bead on that trail?”

“Yes, Sir,” Iolo replied. “We’re trying to track through hyperspace, which is sketchy at best, so it’s not gonna be perfect…but I think it should at least get us close.”

“We’ll take what we can get. Everyone—get that jump ready. Keep your comms on, but maintain radio silence while we’re in flight. Iolo, let us know when to drop out,” Poe ordered. “When we drop out, we don’t know what we’re gonna find, so I want fingers on triggers. Got it?”

“Got it,” Jess said. 

“Ready when you are,” Iolo reported. 

“Standing by,” Snap said.

“Alright. Punch it,” Poe ordered.

Jess engaged her hyperdrive. The stars around her stretched for a split second before her ship snapped forward into the blue haze of hyperspace—sending her hurtling through space and, hopefully, closer to Niv.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a longer break between chapters than normal. Sorry about that--life got a little weird. 
> 
> Thank you for reading/commenting/kudos-ing/etc! It seriously makes my day. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

“Mayday, mayday!” Poe’s voice called over the comm as soon as Jess dropped out of hyperspace. “Shots fired! I repeat—shots fired. Active enemy combatant in the alpha quadrant! HWK-290.”

“Roger that,” Jess said and opened her S-Foils into attack position. She whipped her ship around to face the alpha quadrant and Black-1 being pursued by the light freighter. “Coming for you.” 

“Pava—location,” Poe ordered. 

“.886 gamma,” Jess said. She could tell the moment Poe caught sight of her when he changed the direction of his ship to fly straight at her.

“Incoming,” Poe alerted her. 

“I see you,” Jess said.

“Corellian Slip,” Poe called.

“Copy that, Black Leader,” Jess said. She held her ship steady as Poe flew straight towards her until, at the last second, he pushed his ship into a sharp dive under her, leaving her face to face with the freighter. Jess flipped on an open comm.

“Unknown ship—stand down,” Jess ordered. The ship didn’t deviate from its trajectory. “Come on, man. Don’t make me shoot you.” 

The ship still didn’t adjust course.

Jess aimed her cannons and fired, but the shields deflected her blasts.

“Kriff,” Jess muttered. She broke off her attack but fired another quick snap-shot as she passed him. Jess flipped her comm back to the closed circuit. 

“Coming around,” Jess said. 

“On your port side,” Iolo reported. 

“Where’s the shuttle?” Jess asked.

“Just dropped. What’s happening?” Snap said.

“Get Finn on your weapons. We’ve got company,” Jess said. “Poe—how you doing? Any damage?”

“No, I’m good,” Poe replied. 

“Beebee-Ate, confirm,” Jess said. 

“You don’t trust me?” Poe asked.

“Not with this, nope,” Jess replied. A whistle from BB-8 confirmed that Poe’s ship was still in working order. “What’s our play, Boss?”

“Take ‘em out,” Poe said. “They’re interfering with our mission.”

“Belie that order,” Iolo said. “That ship is giving off the same ion trail we’ve been tracing. We need to talk to that pilot—they’re our next clue to finding Niv.” 

“Fuck,” Poe groaned. “Ok. Where are we? Is that moon habitable?”

“Looks like we dropped out in the Elrood system, Boss. And that moon is Lodos. It has a breathable atmosphere, if that’s what you’re asking,” Karé said. “If you want to know about climate, wildlife, vegetation, weather patterns—"

“Breathable is good enough—we won’t be there long enough for the rest to matter. New plan. Jess, you and I are gonna do a modified slip jaws maneuver to lead him towards the planet and then get behind him. You’re going for the shields and once they’re down, go for the hyperdrive. I’ll take care of the cannons. Karé, Snap, Iolo—you herd them down to the planet. Once we’re on the ground, we’ll board, see what they know.”

“You got it, Boss,” Jess said and looped her ship back next to his. 

“Iolo—starboard or port?” Karé asked.

“I’m already on starboard,” Iolo said. 

“Works for me,” Karé said and positioned the shuttle to the port side of the light freighter. “In position.”

“Alright…let’s do it,” Poe said. 

Jess maneuvered her ship in front of the freighter to draw the enemy pilot’s attention while Poe hovered in a blind spot just under the ship. 

Cannon fire exploded from the freighter, focused on Jess. 

“Alright, Poe—he sees me,” Jess said. “Pushing power to my rear shields.”

“Coming in now,” Poe said and brought his ship up and in next to Jess. “Ready and…move.” 

Jess and Poe’s ships crossed paths, narrowly missing each other and looping back behind the pursuing freighter. Jess targeted one of the shield relays and fired repeatedly until the space around the ship shimmered for a moment before going neutral again. 

“Shields are down,” Jess reported. She shot two more times. “And…hyperdrive is down now, too. Dameron, you’re up,” she said as she peeled off to the right. 

Poe fired twice, causing sparks to fly from the back of the ship. “That should take care of weapons. Karé, Iolo—do your thing.” 

As the other two ships began to move into position, the damaged freighter shot forward, nearly taking out one of Iolo’s S-Foils. 

“Damn it,” Iolo hissed and rolled his X-Wing out of the way. “What the hell.” 

The ship turned towards the moon and made a quick but jerky path down to the surface. 

“He’s heading to ground,” Snap said. 

“Keep on him,” Iolo said.

“Shit—who flies like that?” Poe asked. “There’s no method at all.” 

“They’re totally out of control,” Karé agreed. 

“Someone really doesn’t want to get caught,” Jess said. “Makes me want to catch him even more.” 

“Well, that didn’t work,” Iolo muttered as they regrouped. “What now?”

“I’d say it halfway worked,” Snap said. “His hyperdrive is damaged and his shields are down. We have the upper hand.” 

“He’s breaking atmo. We’re gonna lose our edge soon,” Jess said and looked around. “Karé, can you get in front of him and slow him down?” 

“Um…maybe?” Karé said. “Yeah. I should be able to. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking a Wing Tip,” Jess replied.

“Are you insane? Pava, no,” Poe said. “That’s way too dangerous. And I’m not sure you even have enough weight to your ship to tip that freighter.” 

“I disagree. It’s a perfect setup: I’m in the smaller ship and we’ll be in atmo when I do it. It’ll be fine. Antilles himself taught me,” Jess said. “I can do it.” 

Poe sighed. “Fine. Go for it.” 

“Let’s get in position,” Jess said. 

“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” Karé said as she pushed the shuttle forward until she overtook the freighter. Expertly, Karé moved the smaller shuttle in front of the freighter and held its speed until Jess got into place. Meanwhile, Jess closed her S-Foils and brought her ship up under the port side of the freighter. Once the edge of her S-Foil was lined up with the underside of the ship, Jess took a deep and steadying breath.

“Alright, I’m in position. Karé, on your mark,” Jess said. 

“Move,” Karé ordered and engaged the lift spoilers, slowing both the shuttle and the freighter down. 

At the same time, Jess lifted her ship with enough force that the impact of her wing on the bottom of the ship threw the freighter off balance and sent it spiraling out of control. 

“Nice move, Pava,” Iolo cheered. 

“Good. Now let’s follow him down,” Poe said. The three X-Wings and the shuttle followed the smoking freighter over the trees until it disappeared below the canopy. 

“After them,” Poe ordered. The ships dove down into a clearing, where the shuttle came to a crash landing right next to an extremely familiar ship.

Jess felt the air catch in her throat as she sat her ship down and ripped off her crash harness. 

“Is that Black-6?” Jess shouted before her canopy was fully opened. 

“Yeah, it’s his,” Iolo said. “Any chance that’s him in the shuttle?” 

“No. No way that was him piloting. That flying was way too sloppy for Niv,” Snap said, running down the ramp with Karé and Finn close behind him. 

“What if he was hurt?” Iolo said, scrambling down his ladder. 

“I’ve seen him fly with a concussion. That’s not him,” Karé said firmly. 

“I’m going in,” Iolo said. “If he’s in there—"

“No, you’re not,” Poe said as he jumped to the ground. “You’re too emotionally compromised.” 

Iolo scoffed. “Boss—” 

“No, Iolo. Karé, keep Darban on the shuttle. There are too many variables for someone without training to be out here. Iolo and Finn, stay out here with me, blasters at the ready. Jess, Snap—check that ship out,” Poe ordered. “Find out who or what we’re dealing with.”

“You got it, Commander,” Jess said and drew her blaster. Snap drew his own weapon as the two of them approached the ship. 

“Cover me,” Snap said. He holstered his blaster and pulled out his multitool. With practiced ease, he popped open the control panel and overrode the security system to open the ramp. 

“I’ll take lead,” Jess said and walked up the ramp with Snap close on her heels. 

Once they were on board, Jess swept the hold with her blaster, looking for any movement. 

“NRDF, show yourself!” Jess shouted. 

“NRDF?” Snap whispered incredulously.

“What, ‘Resistance’ sounds better?” Jess hissed. 

To her right, a clattering sound echoed from behind a closed door. Jess quickly popped off the lock panel and opened the door. 

“What. The. Hell,” Jess said quietly, looking around the cockpit.

“What is it?” Snap asked and looked into the room. Jess gestured to a crimson-skinned Zeltron lounging lazily in the pilot’s seat. Next to him was an open camtono filled with enough spice to sentence the man to at least five years in a prison colony for possession.

“Looks like he’s sampling his own product,” Jess said. 

“That’s…wow,” Snap said, taking in the room. “Wait a second…does he look familiar to you?” 

Jess furrowed her brow and looked again at the man. “I mean…maybe.” 

“You, beautiful lady…” the smuggler said with a dopey grin, “are as lovely as one of the Diathim of Iego.”

“Are you kriffing kidding me?” Jess muttered.

Snap chuckled. “Looks like you have an admirer, Pava.” 

“One who’s as high as a fucking kite,” Jess replied. “How the hell was this guy even flying?” 

“I mean, that’s probably why he didn’t break when you challenged him,” Snap said. “The spice made him fearless.”

“My dark-haired Angel,” the smuggler sang and reached for Jess’s hand. Jess swatted his hand away. “Come back to me! I’ve been alone for so long! Just me and my ship, longing for a woman’s embrace.” 

Snap tried to control his laughter, but couldn’t help it.

“Shut up, Snap,” Jess rolled her eyes. 

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll get it together,” Snap said. He reached over and tapped a command into the central computer. “No other life signs on board. Apparently he was telling the truth about being lonely.”

“You suck,” Jess muttered.

Snap started the boot-up sequence for the nav computer. “Where do think this guy was going? Or coming from?” 

“Couldn’t even guess,” Jess said, stepping towards the nav computer.

“Wait! Come back! I love you!” the smuggler said and grabbed Jess’s wrist. Jess grabbed the man’s forearm and flipped him out of his seat and to the ground. 

“Oh shit,” Snap laughed again.

Jess crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at the man on the floor. “Alright, charmer—what’s your name?”

“Horacio Bicol Luca Mindar Senior, at your service,” he said with a flourish.

“Bicol Mindar?” Snap repeated. “Like…the spice runner?” 

“Mindar? He works with Ohnaka, right?” Jess asked.

“Ah! Hondo, my friend! Is he here? Do you know him, my Angel?” Bicol said. 

“Don’t call me that. And no. Hondo Ohnaka isn’t here,” Jess said. 

“But do you _know_ him?” Bicol implored. “If you love me at all, I beg that you don’t tell him about this if you do.”

“No, I don’t know him,” Jess said. “Where’d you get the X-Wing?”

“What X-Wing?” the Zeltron asked.

“The one outside in your camp,” Jess replied impatiently. 

“Ooh! That X-Wing. Payment.” 

“Payment for what?” Snap demanded. 

“What are you doing out here, Mindar?” Jess asked.

“Ah—got it as payment for a side job I was doing out here,” he said, answering both questions at once. He waved his hand as if to wave any follow-up questions away. “Nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing that Hondo needs to know about.” 

“What kind of side job?” Snap pushed. 

“Simple pick-up and delivery. Just getting some fuel from some jungle planet and bringing it to a ship out here in the middle of kriffing nowhere,” Bicol said with a grin. “The Elroooooood region,” he howled. 

“What kind of spice is he on?” Jess huffed. 

“The good stuff, I’d guess,” Snap said. 

Jess reached into the camtono and touched her finger to the orange-red spice and brought her hand to her mouth.

“Pava! What the fuck are you doing?” Snap said, watching in horror as Jess rubbed the powder on her gums.

“Sansanna. Really pure, too,” Jess said. “This isn’t Ohnaka’s product. His is…grainy. Doesn’t dissolve like this.”

“What the hell?” Snap asked, staring wide-eyed at her. “Did you just—how do you know—”

“Oh, relax, Snap—it wasn’t enough that even an NRDF drug test would pick it up,” Jess said. “Besides, no way you haven’t tried spice.”

“No, I actually haven’t,” Snap said. “Have you?”

Jess shot him a sideways look. “Is that really a question? You know about my pre-NRDF life.” 

“Yeah, well sorry if I didn’t think spice was involved,” Snap muttered. 

“Aww. Sweet you think I’m so innocent,” Jess winked. She turned and dropped to a knee next to the smuggler. “Ok, Bicol—who were you working for?” 

“I don’t remember,” the Zeltron shrugged, but made no motion to get off the floor. “Tall guy. Bald. Funny clothes.”

“Sounds like Vic Fallor,” Snap said.

Bicol snapped and pointed up at Snap. “That’s him! That’s his name! Vic Fallor. Nice guy—gave me that spice in payment for the fuel delivery. Very nice. Nicer than you…”

“Where?” Jess asked.

“Here,” Bicol waved vaguely. “Well…not here on this planet. Up in space. What planet is this anyway? I like it. I think I’ll move here. Come with me, Angel?” 

Jess ignored his question. “What was he flying?”

“Big, big ship. Rectangle. Looked old,” Bicol said, finally pushing himself up onto his elbows. “Why?”

“Where did they go?” Snap said.

“I don’t want to talk to you—not when I can talk to my Angel,” he said and smiled up at Jess.

Snap threw up his hands. “All yours, Pava. I’m gonna check the comm.” 

Jess scoffed. “Wimp,” she muttered. “Bicol—where’d he go?” 

“I dunno,” Bicol shrugged. 

“Yes, you do. Where were they headed?” Jess pushed. “Come on, Bicol—just a sector even.” 

“Sss…Saijo sector,” Bicol slurred. 

“Great. Ok,” Jess nodded. “Do you know where?” 

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’. 

“How long ago?” Jess asked.

“I dunno…couple days? It’s all the same. Time is just a construct,” Bicol said dreamily. 

“You’ve been high the whole time, haven’t you?” Jess sighed. “Fuck.” 

Bicol’s eyes grew wide. “You wanna?”

“No, thank you,” Jess said and stood up. “Stay here.” 

“Whatever you say, Angel,” Bicol said and laid back down and began loudly singing what Jess was pretty sure was a Mon Calamari drinking song. 

She walked over to Snap. “Got anything?” 

“I blocked any location transmitters and am going back through the previous coordinates in his nav records. I found a couple of promising comms, but…” he sighed. “Nothing solid. I’m gonna start some scans and searches, but I’m not hope…ful…” Snap’s voice faded away. “Oh…hello…what’s that?”

“Hello what?” Jess asked, leaning close. 

“If this is what I think it is…” Snap muttered. “Oh, hell yeah. Ok. We’ve got a client list.” 

“A client list?” Jess repeated. 

“And a lot more…” Snap said. He hesitated for a second before he looked sideways at Jess and then nodded decisively. “I’m gonna take it.”

“The client list?” 

“All of it,” Snap said. “His nav records, client list, comms. Whole drive.” 

“Ok, I like it,” Jess grinned. “What do you need from me?”

“I’ll take care of it. You take care of your friend on the floor there, _Angel_ ,” Snap teased.

“I hate you,” Jess groaned. 

“You love me,” Snap countered. “You know what…maybe we should take the whole ship.”

“I don’t hate that idea. Let’s check with the Boss. You or Karé could fly it home. Organa might like us bringing home another ship,” Jess said. “And obviously, we’ll have to take Mr. Mindar here back to…somewhere. I mean, there’s gotta be at least one prison colony that’s still working with us.” 

“We’ll ask the General,” Snap said. 

“Let’s go see what the Boss has to say,” Jess said. “See if Iolo has killed him yet.”

“He’s taking this hard, isn’t he?” Snap asked as he closed the camtono. 

“They’re best friends and wingmen. You think he should be taking it differently?” Jess asked. “Wouldn’t you do the same if it was Karé?”

“Married,” Snap replied flatly. “Different rules. Would you fight Command like he has?”

“I don’t know,” Jess shrugged. “Probably.” 

Snap laughed. “Don’t lie. You definitely would.” 

Jess smiled and shrugged. “Yeah. I’m just saying that if it was Poe missing and running out of air…I’d be exactly where Iolo is. I get it.” 

Snap considered that quietly for a moment. “Yeah…I get it, too.” 

“Let’s get this out to the others,” Jess said, picking up the camtono. “See what they wanna do with it.”

“What about him?” Snap asked, nodding towards the strung-out spice runner. He appeared to be dozing on the floor, though he was still muttering the words of the drinking song.

“I think we have to take him with us,” Jess said.

“You sure, _Angel_?” Snap grinned.

“Don’t call me that,” Jess rolled her eyes. 

“Last time, promise,” Snap said. 

“Well, to make sure that promise sticks: I’m not gonna help you carry him.” 

Snap frowned. “That’s rude.” 

“That’s karma,” Jess said with a smirk. “You did this to yourself and have no one else to blame.” 

Snap sighed and pulled the Zeltron to his feet, wrapping the strung-out man’s arm around his neck and his own arm around the man’s waist. The movement woke Bicol up and he began to again sing at the top of his lungs. 

“Damn, he’s loud,” Snap groaned. “Ready to go?”

“You got him? Cause I will help if you need me to,” Jess said. “I’m not _that_ mean.”

“I’m fine. Grab the datacube and the camtono and—” Snap was cut off by a sudden beeping from the comm station. “What is it now?” he muttered and dropped Bicol back into the pilot’s seat.

“What’s happening?” Jess asked, stepping closer. 

“I don’t know. Hang on…” Snap said, clicking through the screens. “Oh shit,” he said disbelievingly. 

“That sounds like it might be good,” Jess said. “Is it good? What are you seeing?” 

“That search I started--we got a hit. It’s a ping on Fallor’s ship. We now know what sector he’s in…and we have a comm frequency.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. We’ve gotta tell Poe. Come on,” Snap said with a jerk of his head. He picked Bicol back up and made for the ramp. “Make sure that the new data is loaded on the cube!” 

Jess waited for the data to load before she grabbed the spice camtono and datacube and followed Snap out of the cockpit and back to the group. 

“We’re clear,” Jess called as they started down the ramp.

“Took you long enough,” Karé shouted from the ramp of their shuttle.

“We were busy,” Jess replied. “I mean, our secret affair has been hard to maintain when we can’t leave the base and you’re always around,” she teased. 

“Right. That big secret,” Karé laughed. “Who’ve you got there?” she asked, looking at Snap and the singing, stumbling figure that he was supporting.

“That charming man would be our mystery pilot,” Jess said. 

Jess knew something was happening the moment that Bicol saw Poe. The Spice Runner perked up and his eyes sparked with recognition.

“Heeey!” Bicol called. “You! Curls! I know you! You’re P—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Jess fired a stun shot at him, knocking the Zeltron unconscious. The sudden dead weight pulled Snap sideways and he dropped the man to the ground.

“Hey! A little warning next time?” Snap shouted. “You could have shot me!”

“Please. I’m a better shot than that,” Jess smirked. Snap flipped her off. She turned to face Poe, who was staring at the unconscious spice runner. “You two know each other from before?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t recognize him, but apparently he knows me. Thanks for…you know,” Poe whispered.

“Let me tell you, Boss: it was my genuine pleasure,” Jess said. “The man’s been making passes at me since we cornered him on his ship. Seriously, he couldn’t take a hint.” 

Poe furrowed his brow, considering the crimson-skinned man. “Wait a second. Is that—” 

“Bicol Mindar, yeah. One of the key spice suppliers to Hondo Ohnaka’s organization,” Jess said. “Found him strung out in the cockpit. Thought maybe we should take him with us. You know—cleaning up the Outer Rim and whatnot.” 

“Snap—get some binders on him and put Mr. Mindar in the cargo hold of the _Strato,_ ” Poe instructed.

“You got it, Boss,” Snap said and dragged the unconscious Zeltron towards the other shuttle.

Karé watched as her husband disappeared into the ship with Bicol. “He was flying like that?” 

“Yep,” Jess confirmed. “Force only knows how.” 

“Ohnaka’s operation is based on Batuu,” Iolo said. “What the hell is Mindar doing out here?”

“Side job,” Jess replied. “Got a camtono of spice and Niv’s ship in payment for delivering the fuel. Begged us not to tell Ohnaka. And when someone doesn’t want their sketchy boss to know about their sketchy side job, you know they’re in deep.”

“So that sounds like we’re on the right track,” Poe said. 

“Yeah,” Jess confirmed. 

“Is Ohnaka gonna come looking?” Poe asked.

“He shouldn’t. We disabled any location transmitters, so even if he does, he’s not gonna find anything. Plus, Snap and I think we should hold onto the ship. We got some other promising intel from his ship—comms, nav charts, client lists…”

“And a sector location for Fallor’s ship,” Snap said as he came back down the ramp of the _Strato_.

“What?” Poe whispered. He cleared his throat. “Are you serious?” 

“Yeah. And a comm frequency,” Snap added. 

“I could kiss you,” Poe laughed.

“You’d have to ask my wife first,” Snap said. 

Karé shrugged. “I’d allow it.” 

“Where’s Fallor’s ship?” Iolo asked impatiently. 

“It’s in the Saijo sector,” Jess said. “There’s only a handful of systems there, so—”

“We don’t have time to scan them all, though, do we?” Iolo said.

“No,” Jess agreed. She sighed. “We need to guess.” 

“What are our options?” Poe asked.

“Cantros, Saijos, and Faldos,” Jess said. 

“Faldos?” Poe repeated.

“Yeah. Why?” Jess asked.

“Dad’s told me about it. Even before the Empire, it was known as a dirty backwater planet. Smugglers, pirates—you name it,” Poe said. “We should check there.” 

“I disagree. Fallor is a scumbag, but he likes to present himself as someone respectable. He’d draw attention there,” Karé said. “If I were him…I’d want to hide.”

“What would you do?” Poe asked.

“Is there a gas giant?” Finn asked from the ramp of the ship. The four pilots turned to look at him.

Jess raised an eyebrow. “What?” 

“Yeah, buddy,” Poe scratched the back of his neck, “you gotta give us more.” 

“That’s what I would do: I’d hide in a gas giant. It’s a tactic that the Rebels used back in the war against the Empire,” Finn said. “They’d hide in a stable gas giant—the electromagnetic pulse and low-level radiation would throw off any tracking beacons, but the shielding was enough to keep them safe.” 

“What about scans?” Jess asked.

Finn shook his head. “Deep space scans wouldn’t work. The Empire had to be close—like, in orbit close—to pick them up on a scan. And by then…the Rebels could attack.”

“Damn, the First Order’s education system is weird,” Snap scoffed. “Ok, so let’s say that they’re gonna hide in a gas giant. They already have an Empire-era ship, so maybe they use Empire-era tactics. That eliminates Saijos. So we’re down to Cantros 3 in the Cantros system or Tuso in the Faldos system. Where are we going?” 

“I say Tuso,” Jess said. “Faldos attracts the right kind of crowd for Fallor. He might stand out if he interacted with anyone himself, but if he sent one of his aides looking for muscle, slicers, traders, hired guns, or whoever, they’d find them there.” 

“Cantros 3 has a less corrosive chemical makeup than Tuso,” Karé countered, looking at her datapad. “It’d be the safer option.”

“So let’s pick one and go,” Iolo said, already climbing back into his ship. “Where are we going, Boss?” 

“Boss, there’s a problem,” Snap said.

“Now what?” Poe asked.

“You can’t straight-jump to the Cantros system,” Snap said. “Or the Faldos system, for that matter.” 

“Why not?” Poe frowned. 

“We have to cross three major hyperspace lanes. That means at least four separate jumps.”

Poe inhaled sharply. “How much time is that gonna take?” 

“A lot,” Snap said vaguely.

“Too much?” Jess asked.

“I didn’t say that. But…” Snap hesitated, “it could be tight. It’ll be…complicated, for sure. And we definitely don’t have time to do both. So you need to pick one.” 

Poe didn’t respond.

Jess glanced over at her friend and caught his look of apprehension. She frowned—‘apprehension’ wasn’t a word that anyone associated with Poe Dameron.

“Poe?” she asked quietly.

“I…” Poe sighed. “I don’t know. I’ll be right back,” Poe said and walked up the ramp and into the freighter. 

“Dameron!” Iolo shouted after him. He turned back to the other pilots. “What the hell is wrong with him? We don’t have time for this. We need to find Niv now.”

Karé and Jess looked at each other. They each held up a fist and shook it three times before Jess put up three fingers and Karé put up one. 

“Evens. It’s your turn,” Karé said. 

“I got it,” Jess sighed and followed Poe into the shuttle. 

“Dameron?” Jess called as she walked up the ramp. 

“In here,” he replied, his voice tired. Jess followed the sound to the cockpit.

“What are you doing in here?” Jess asked, leaning against the control panel. 

“Just…thinking, I guess,” Poe shrugged. “What’s up, Pava? Need something?” 

“Yeah, actually. Poe—I need you to get yourself back on your shit,” Jess said. 

“What do you mean?” Poe grumbled.

“I mean you’re still second-guessing yourself after Crait and quite honestly, we don’t have time for that.”

Poe frowned. “I’m confused. If I was to rank our fights, Post-Crait is second only to when I came back after I left the NRDF and didn’t tell you. You told me that I was too stubborn and bull-headed and needed to think for half a second before I acted. Organa said the same thing. And now I’m doing that and you’re mad about it?” 

Jess scoffed. “Don’t get me wrong: a slightly more cautious Poe Dameron exactly isn’t a bad thing. But right now, you aren’t the confident leader that I followed away from the NRDF and halfway across the galaxy to fly for the Resistance. For free, I might add. Where’s that guy? Cause we’d all follow him anywhere. And I need him back. _Niv_ needs him back.”

“What do you want from me, Jess?” Poe asked tiredly. 

“I want you to make a call. Statura said that you have the potential to be the best strategist of our generation if you put your mind to it. And you have the best instincts of anyone I’ve ever met,” Jess said. “So do it. Put your mind and instincts to work and tell us what to do.”

“It’s not that simple, Testor,” Poe sighed.

“Why not?”

“Because…” Poe hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Because I can’t add another name to the list. It’s too long as it is. Muran. L’ulo. Oddy Muva. Tallie. Stomeroni. And all the others. I can’t add another name to that list because I made the wrong call again. Not when it’s Niv’s life on the line and Niv’s name on the list.” 

“So making no call at all is somehow better?” Jess asked incredulously. “Poe—whatever you decide to do right now doesn’t change the fact that Niv’s in trouble. For all intents and purposes, he’s already on that list. We have about 10 hours left and the only way to get him _off_ that list is to make a choice and act. Whatever we do, you can’t be frozen like this. I don’t care how you make it—strategic, instinct, the roll of a dice. Just make a choice and don’t let inaction be the reason we lose Niv.” 

Poe nodded slowly. “You’re right. You’re right. Ok,” he sighed and looked around the cockpit. “Um…ok. I think I might have an idea.”

Jess’s lips quirked. “Good. Now, what are you thinking?” 

“Think this ship is fixable?”

“Give me half an hour and I think I can get her flying again,” Jess nodded. “So what’s the plan?” 

“Come on,” Poe said and pushed himself to his feet. He led the way back out of the ship and called everyone over. “Guys, come over here.” He turned to face Finn. “How do you feel about flying a shuttle?” 

“I can do it,” Finn said confidently.

“Great. So step one: let’s get this shuttle fixed. Once that’s done, we’re gonna split into two teams. Karé and Snap, make sure Niv’s X-Wing is space-worthy. Once both ships are good, Finn, you’re gonna fly the _Strato_ with Darban. You’ll go with me and Pava—we’re gonna go check out Cantros 3. Karé, I want you in Mindar’s ship and Snap, you’ll fly Niv’s X-Wing. The two of you are going with Iolo to Tuso. Whichever team finds Fallor and Lek will let the others know and will do what they need to for Lek. Are there any questions?” The rest of the pilots shook their heads. “Alright. Let’s get these ships fixed and get back in the air.” 

“What’d you do?” Karé whispered to Jess. 

Jess smirked. “Called him on his bullshit.” 

“Good work,” Karé muttered and gave her a low fist bump. 

“It’s a skill, like anything else,” Jess grinned. “Finn—come with me,” she said and waved him around the back of the light freighter. 

Half an hour later, Jess and Finn came back around the ship.

“What’s the status?” Poe asked.

“Shields and hyperdrive are good. Weapons, not so much,” Jess said. “There are some torpedoes, but no cannons.” 

“I’ll be careful,” Karé said. 

“How’s Niv’s ship?” Poe asked.

“Gross,” Snap said. “That guy trashed the interior, but the mecs are still good.” 

“Good enough for me,” Poe said. “Snap, you’re in command of your team.” 

“You got it, Boss,” Snap agreed.

Poe nodded before he added, “Snap—keep in touch.”

“You do the same,” Snap said. He hesitated before he continued. “And you don’t get yourself killed. No pulling a _‘Poe Dameron’_ or any shit like that. Deal?”

Poe huffed a laugh. “I won’t.”

“What are we still doing here? We don’t have any time to lose,” Iolo said. “Let’s go.” 

“You heard Iolo—load up,” Poe said. He gave Snap a small smile. “We’ll be fine, Snap,” he promised softly. “No stupid heroics or half-baked schemes. I promise.”

Snap held his gaze before nodding. “Ok, good. Iolo, Karé—let’s go. Iolo, get on those jump calculations set for Tuso. Send them to Karé and me as soon as you have them done.”

“Yes, sir,” Iolo said and climbed into his ship. 

“Jess, get us set for Cantros 3. Finn, you and Darban get in the shuttle,” Poe said. “Let’s fly.” 

Jess climbed back into her X-Wing and started to input the jump sequence as she lifted her ship out of atmo and into space. Snap was right—the jumps were complicated and time-consuming. Even if everything went according to plan, only one of the teams would make it in time. 

And they’d make it with less than 90 minutes to spare. 

But if they were wrong…there was no second chance.

“Confirm jump sequence,” Jess said. “Snap wasn’t lying—it’s not an easy route. And the timing is gonna be tight.” 

“Got it,” Poe reported. “Beebee-Ate’s confirmed the telemetry. Finn, you good?”

“Ready, Poe,” Finn said. 

“Alright. I still want to keep radio-silence. You both ok with that?” Poe asked. Neither Jess nor Finn said anything. “Good. Now let’s punch it,” he ordered. 

Jess engaged her hyperdrive and snapped out of realspace and into hyperspace. 

This time, though, hyperspace wasn’t calming. If anything, it made her feel more agitated. It felt slow and ineffective, even though she knew she was traveling faster than the speed of light. But when she was in hyperspace, she couldn’t _do_ anything more to help. And not being able to help aggravated her. She clenched and unclenched her fingers around the yoke as she tried to force her body to relax. It wasn’t working. 

The next few hours passed agonizingly slowly, interrupted only by the drops from hyperspace to readjust their flight angles. 

After what felt like an eternity, they dropped out of hyperspace into the Cantros system.

“Finally,” Jess muttered under her breath. 

“Finn—run a scan of Cantros 3. See what we can see,” Poe ordered.

“You got it,” Finn replied. 

Jess stared out of her cockpit window at the blue and orange swirling gasses, hoping with every fiber of her being that they were in the right place. And if they weren’t, that the others were. An incoming message from the _Strato_ flickered on her screen. 

“Jess, Poe—check out the scan I just sent you. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Finn asked.

Jess opened the message and felt her throat constrict. The grainy image showed a long, boxy ship hidden in the gas giant. “Yeah. That looks like an IMX-120,” she agreed. 

"How much time do we have?" Finn asked.

"Not much," Jess replied. "Right at 75 minutes by my count." 

“Pava, contact Karé, Iolo, and Snap,” Poe ordered. “Tell them we’ve found Fallor’s ship.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your friends are coming, Niv. They're almost there! 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and commenting. :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.
> 
> **Title is inspired by 'Not Another D&D Podcast'. I own nothing.**

* * *

“Finn—tell me you know how we can get onto that ship,” Jess muttered. 

“I’m working on it,” he replied. “It _is_ a prison ship, you know.” 

“Yeah. I'm aware,” Jess said. 

“Hey Finn, why didn’t they put these into mass production?” Poe asked.

“Because they lost the war?” Finn said incredulously. 

“But the remnants of the Empire kept building TIEs and Star Destroyers. We know that. Why did they stop these ships? What was wrong with them?” Poe asked again. 

“I see where you’re going with this—they likely discontinued them because there was a weakness in the design. I’m looking,” Finn said. 

“Doesn’t matter where the weakness is. The environmental safeties won’t let the launch bay door open while it’s still in the atmosphere of Cantros 3. We’ve gotta get it farther out,” Jess said.

“I think we can handle that,” Poe said. 

“Oh yeah?” Jess asked.

“Yeah. Little distraction…you know. I’ll fire a couple shots here...couple shots there,” Poe said. “Get them to follow me.”

“So your plan is that you'll be bait,” Jess said flatly.

“That’s oversimplifying it, but yeah,” Poe agreed. 

“I hate when you do that.” 

“It works like, 87% of the time,” Poe countered. 

“Got it,” Finn interrupted them. “So the ship is essentially a bunch of boxes—the cells—linked onto a long central hub that’s also a series of boxes. It’s how the gravity modulators can work. Plus, they can close off a section of there was a prison break or something. It doesn’t matter. The point is there’s an exposed relay at the corner that proved to be a weakness. If we can hit that, we should be able to take the shields down and then we can take the ship.”

“I like weaknesses,” Poe said. “Ok. So I’ll draw them out. You two—take that relay out and see if you can get the shields down.”

“How are you planning on us getting on board the prison ship?” Jess asked.

“Generally speaking, prisons don’t worry about you breaking in—just about people breaking out,” Poe said.

“Oh, that makes it better,” Jess deadpanned. “So how are we gonna do that?”

“When Poe leads them out, standard response would be to send out smaller fighters to eliminate the threat,” Finn said. “So they’ll practically open the doors for us. We just have to go in.” 

“Exactly,” Poe said. 

“This is a bad plan,” Jess said.

“Agreed, but do you have something better?” Finn asked.

“Nope,” Jess sighed. “Ok, let’s do it.” 

“You two—stay out here. You’ll know when it’s time to move,” Poe said before he dove into the gas giant.

“Yeah, when he comes barreling out with a ship firing on him,” Finn muttered. 

“Sounds about right,” Jess laughed. “Hey, Finn?”

“Yeah?” 

“Sorry about what happened on Vestar.”

“What? What happened on Vestar?” Finn asked.

“I didn’t back you up on your plan. I told you we didn’t have time and—yeah. I get it if you’re mad.” 

“Oh, J. Don’t apologize for that. We agreed on what we wanted to do, just not how to do it,” Finn said. “I’m sorry for what I said. I know I took some pretty low shots.” 

“I’ve heard worse,” Jess said. “Thanks for coming with us…to find Niv, I mean.”

“We’re the Resistance. It’s what we do,” Finn said. Jess could hear the smirk in his voice. “We don’t cut bait.”

“Damn straight.” Jess sighed. “How long do you think he’ll be?” 

“It’s Poe. He’s pretty good at pissing people off if he wants to,” Finn said. 

“That’s the truth,” Jess said. “Any chance you can do any scans on that ship while we’re waiting? Find Niv before we’re even on board?”

“No, sorry. The gas is throwing all of the readings off. We’ve gotta wait until—whelp, wait for that,” Finn said. 

Jess looked over to see Black-1 soaring away from Cantros 3, followed by a long, dark ship. 

“That thing looks like a snake,” Jess said as she engaged her thrusters to pursue the IMX-120. 

“Then let’s kill the snake,” Finn said. “You see what we’re after?” 

“Not yet, but you said rear corner on the port side,” Jess said. “I’ll see it when I’m closer. Any sign of—yeah, ok, spoke too soon,” Jess said as the launch bay door opened and two squadrons of Headhunters flew out and targeted Poe. “Let’s get in there.” 

Jess and Finn threw themselves into the battle, picking the Headhunters off of Poe’s tail while avoiding the fire from the turrets on top of the prison ship. 

“Pava, you go for that relay, I’ll stick with Poe,” Finn said.

“Copy that,” Jess said and peeled off from Poe and Finn to go to the back of the ship. Four of the Headhunters followed her. 

“Damn it,” Jess muttered. She kept aiming for the exposed relay, but every time she got close enough to target it, she would be forced away again by one of the Z-95s or fire from the ship itself.

“Testor! What are you doing back there?” Poe asked. “Come on!”

“I can’t get close enough to take a shot,” Jess said. “These pilots aren’t exactly good, but they are annoying.”

“Do something!” Poe ordered.

“You think I’m not trying?” Jess shot back. She corkscrewed her ship away from one Headhunter and fired at another. “They won’t let me get anywhere near the ship.” 

A proximity alert sounded from Jess’s console: another Headhunter had come in from behind her and was now locked onto her position. “Damn it,” she whispered. 

“Pava! Incoming!” Iolo’s voice crackled over the comm. Jess glanced up just as Iolo’s X-Wing soared over her and shot down the pursuing Headhunters. 

“Iolo? What the hell?” Jess said. 

“Iolo?” Poe repeated. “Where did you come from?”

“We got your comm and dropped out of hyperspace immediately to redirect. We got lucky,” Iolo said. 

“Where are Snap and Karé?” Poe asked.

“They were delayed. I’ll explain later. How can I help?” Iolo said.

“Stick with Pava. We’re good up here,” Finn said.

“Roger that. J, what are we doing?” 

“There’s an exposed relay at the stern. If we can hit that, it’ll take out the shields and, likely, the engine. And we think it’ll keep the launch bay open. But it’s a prison ship, so you know, the shields are…a lot,” Jess said. 

“Got it,” Iolo said. “I’ll clear a path. You go for the relay.”

“Let’s do it,” Jess agreed. 

Iolo circled back and flew in over Jess, clearing a path for her to the stern of the ship. Jess followed closely and made a run at the ship. The targeting array focused on the exposed relay, directing Jess where to concentrate her fire. 

“Shields are down to 67%, but we’re gonna need to make another run,” Jess said, breaking away from the ship and looping back towards Iolo.

“Same attack?” Iolo asked. 

“Same approach, but let’s switch it up. Can’t let them think we’re predictable. I’ll take care of the Headhunters, relay is yours,” Jess said.

“Roger that. On your mark,” Iolo said. 

“Move,” Jess said. 

The two X-Wings made another approach to the IMX-120 before Jess laid down cover fire and chased away the remaining Headhunters while Iolo focused his fire on their target again. Jess managed to shoot down two more Headhunters, leaving only one Headhunter remaining. As far as the relay went, though, the second run ended with similar results as the first. 

“Ah, kriff,” Jess whispered. 

“What?” Iolo asked. “Oh, that,” he said when he saw another squadron of Headhunters exit the launch bay. Three of them split away and flew towards the firefight with Poe and Finn while the other three turned their attention on Jess and Iolo. 

“Iolo, Jess, give me some good news,” Poe said over the comm.

“You mean more Headhunters isn’t good news?” Iolo muttered. 

“It kind of is,” Finn said. “The specs for this ship only list berths for three squadrons. So…this is it.” 

“Glad you think so, Finn. You’ve got three more headed your way,” Iolo reported. 

“I see them,” Poe said. “How’s it looking?”

“Shields are at 23%. One more run and we should have it,” Jess said. “We’ll let you know.”

“Make it snappy,” Poe said. 

“Doing what we can, Boss,” Jess replied. 

“One more run?” Iolo asked. 

“You know it,” Jess said. “I’ll take the relay.”

“I’ve got the Headhunters. Let’s go.” 

They flew back toward the ship, cannons firing. Jess took out one of the Headhunters before setting her targeting system once again on the relay. She filtered out Iolo and the cannon fire around her, bringing her entire world down to the small section of exposed conduit. She fired her cannons continuously until the electromagnet exploded in a shower of sparks. 

“Yes!” Jess shouted as she looped up and away from the ship and fired on another Headhunter.

“Hell yeah!” Iolo whooped as he took out the last ship. “Poe, shields are down and we’re clear of ‘Hunters back here.” 

“Nice work. You two, get inside and disable the turrets. We’ll join you as soon as we can!” Poe ordered. 

“Roger that,” Jess said and arced her ship back around towards the launch bay. She flew through the life support barrier and into the bay, already running through her landing cycles. As soon as her landing gear touched down, Jess threw open her canopy and vaulted out of her cockpit. Two security droids were standing guard by the door that led to the rest of the ship. Jess fired twice before the droids even saw her and dropped them to the ground.

“Jess! Iolo! We’re taking heavy fire. You’ve gotta get those turrets out of commission!” Poe said. 

“Thirty seconds, Boss,” Iolo said and sprinted across the bay to the computer terminal with Jess close on his heels. “Jess, watch my back.”

“You got it.” 

Iolo clicked through command windows and typed in commands, his gaze locked on the screen. Finally, he found the weapons control system. “Almost there,” he muttered to himself as he accessed the coding for the turrets. With a final command, he deleted all of the code, rendering the turrets useless. “Done,” he said.

“Boss! Iolo got the turrets,” Jess reported into her comm.

“We’re on our way,” Poe said. 

“I didn’t know you were good with systems,” Jess said.

Iolo’s lips quirked. “Niv taught me.” 

“We’ll find him.”

“If he’s not here…”

“No, don’t think like that. He’s here,” Jess said firmly. “I believe it. Come on—let’s see if we can find anything on this computer.” 

Moments later, Black-1 and _Strato_ flew into the launch bay.

“What are you doing here, Arana?” Poe asked as soon as his canopy was open. “Where are Karé and Snap?”

“The hyperdrive on Karé’s shuttle started to glitch, and she needed to land to fix it. Snap stayed to help her out. They shouldn’t be too far behind me,” Iolo said. 

“You guys find Niv yet?” Finn asked as he, Darban, and Poe jogged across the bay. 

“No,” Jess said, not looking away from the screen. 

“How much time do we have?” Poe asked.

“Not much,” Jess replied. “We’re having to fight our way through every security wall. It’d help to have the bridge.” 

“I can do that. Darban, you’ve been on this ship?” Poe asked.

“I have,” the younger man confirmed.

“Great. Get me to the bridge?”

“This way,” he said and indicated to the doors. 

“You guys good to find Niv?” Poe asked.

“We’ll get him,” Iolo confirmed. “You get control of the ship.” 

“Keep your comms open,” Poe said before he pulled out his blaster and followed Darban out of the hangar. 

“Finn!” Jess called. “Come help me out.” 

“What are we looking at?” Finn asked. 

“Ugh! This ship makes no sense,” Jess groaned as she typed commands into the computer. “The sensors are wild.”

“I told you: each room has its own gravitational center,” Finn said, looking over the map he’d pulled up. 

“Right. I know. But it’s…frustrating,” Jess finished.

Finn chuckled. “That’s the point. It keeps your prisoners disoriented,” he said, his eyes still on the screen as he navigated through the system. “First Order did stuff like that, too.”

Jess winced.

“I can’t do a lifeform scan, either. Until we have the bridge, it’s blocked,” Iolo said.

Finn narrowed his eyes at the screen and gently pushed Jess back. “Move please.” 

“What are you doing?” Jess asked, stepping back from the console.

“I have an idea of how to find Niv, but this ship is big. It’s gonna take a minute,” Finn explained.

“What is it?”

Finn sighed. “So the central hub is, essentially, a series of boxes or cell blocks,” he explained. “This one has eight. The front and back ones don’t have any cells attached to them, the remaining six each have twenty cells—two levels of ten. We know this ship isn’t full, and it wouldn’t make any sense to spread prisoners out across the whole ship—it’d be a waste of power. If we can see which block the most power is being diverted to, I think we’ll find Niv. Hopefully the cell, but if nothing else, it’ll get us to the right block.”

"I feel like there's a 'but' coming," Jess said warily.

"Yeah. If Poe doesn't get and maintain control of the bridge...they could lock us in a block and there wouldn't be anything we could do to get out. We'd be trapped."

"Yeah, that's bad." Jess clenched her jaw. She felt useless again. “Do what you have to,” she said before she began to pace back and forth, the bay silent aside from Finn and Iolo’s fingers on the keyboard.

“Woo. Ok. Everything just loosened up. Looks like Poe has the bridge,” Finn said. “Should go faster now.” 

“We have a problem,” Poe’s voice said over the comm, breaking the silence.

Jess grabbed her comm from her belt. “What is it?” 

“Another ship just landed.” 

Jess looked around the launch bay. “No, they didn’t. We’re still here. There haven’t been any new ships.” 

“There’s a second launch bay,” Poe said.

“The bay that we landed in is the service bay. There is a primary bay at the front of the ship for dignitaries or other people of rank,” Darban said.

“Of course there is,” Finn groaned. “Is it Karé and Snap?”

“No. It’s a bigger ship,” Poe said.

“Ok, so what does that mean for us?” Jess asked.

“I don’t know yet. It looks Corulagan,” Poe said. 

“Is it the Leks?” Iolo asked.

“It’s not their ship,” Poe answered. 

“Anarchists?” Iolo asked.

“Maybe,” Poe sighed. “This smells like treason.” 

“And like someone else is interested in taking Niv,” Iolo added. 

“Kriff,” Jess hissed. Finn turned back to the console. “How’s it going?” 

“I’m getting close,” Finn said.

“Poe, do you have a plan?” she asked.

“We’ll think of something,” Poe said. “How close is close?” 

“I got him!” Finn said triumphantly. “Fuck.” Finn turned away from the console and ran back onto the shuttle. 

“What’s wrong? What are you doing?” Jess called after him.

“He has less oxygen than we thought,” Finn shouted back, re-emerging with a medpack slung over his shoulder. “Less time than we thought.” 

“How much less?”

“We need to find him now,” Finn said. 

“Finn, how much less?” Poe repeated Jess’s question.

“He has about six minutes of oxygen remaining,” Finn said. 

“Damn it,” Jess muttered, and set a timer on her chrono. 

“Where is he?” Iolo demanded. Finn brought up an observation screen. Niv wasn’t pacing anymore: he was sitting against the wall with his head in his hands, clearly in pain.

“We need to run,” Finn said, pulling Jess away from the screen. “He’s halfway across the ship.” 

“You know where you’re going?” Jess asked.

“Follow me,” Finn said as he ran towards the doors. Jess and Iolo turned and sprinted after Finn. 

If Jess hadn’t been grateful for Finn’s ability to memorize and then practically apply maps in his head before, she was grateful now. Finn led them through long hallways, narrow access corridors, and around sharp turns that Jess knew she wouldn’t have been able to memorize in such a short time.

“How we doing?” Poe asked, his nerves for once creeping into his voice. 

“Two minutes, Poe,” Jess said as they ran down the hall. “Just give us two minutes.”

“You don’t have two minutes. Finn said six minutes and it’s been almost five. He’s going to run out of air in less than that.”

“What’s going on with the Corulagan ship?” Jess asked.

“They’re talking to someone. It isn’t Fallor,” Poe said. “Darban isn’t sure who he is, either. Not from security feeds, at least. I don’t want to alert them to us quite yet.”

“We blew up their Headhunters, they know we’re here,” Iolo huffed.

“The Corulagans don’t,” Poe countered. “I don’t want them to rabbit yet. But you need to find Niv.” 

“We’ll find him. Just…stall,” Jess said. 

“We just dropped,” Karé said over the comm. “Sorry for the delay. Where do you want us?” 

“Come around to the front of the ship—you’re gonna stop that Corulagan ship from escaping if they panic. But be ready to land if we need you for backup,” Poe said. 

“Copy that, Black Leader,” Karé said.

Jess, Iolo, and Finn continued down the hall. 

“Jess—status,” Poe ordered.

“Almost there,” Jess said as they rounded a corner. Her chrono started beeping.

“We’re out of time,” Iolo whispered. 

“There!” Jess shouted, pointing ahead. Through a glass wall at the end of the hallway, they could see Niv. He was lying against the far wall, gasping for air. 

Blaster fire came from behind them. Jess glanced over her shoulder to see four guards running towards them.

“Go! I’ve got it,” Iolo said, turning to face the incoming guards.

Jess and Finn kept running until they had almost reached the wall.

“Niv! Move!” Finn shouted. Niv looked up. Recognition and relief gave him a final burst of energy to roll to his left as Finn fired his blaster two times.

The glass shattered and rained down on Niv. Jess dropped her blaster and jumped through the door, landing on her side on the floor. Immediately, the altered gravity pulled her down and she slid down until she landed next to Niv. She reached over and felt his pulse—it was too rapid and his breathing too shallow.

“He’s hypoxic! I need an oxygen mask now!” she shouted to Finn. He nodded, put the medpack on the floor, and slid it down to Jess. She pulled the oxygen mask from the bag and strapped it around Niv’s face. He took a deep breath and clung to Jess’s arm.

“I got him,” Jess said as she pulled Niv close and relief flooded her system. “I’ve got him.” 

“Jess,” Niv gasped. 

“Shh. I’ve got you. Just keep breathing. I’ve got you,” Jess repeated quietly, holding him tight. The blaster fire from the hallway stopped. 

“Poe, take them,” Finn said into the comm. “We have Niv.”

“Roger that,” Poe said.

“What’s Iolo’s status?” Jess asked.

“I’m good,” Iolo called back. “The threat’s been eliminated.”

“Good,” Jess said, her arms still wrapped tightly around Niv. “Finn, can you do anything about the grav modulator?”

“What the…how is that happening?” Iolo asked. Jess could imagine that it had to look very strange for Iolo to see her and Niv sitting on the far wall of the room.

“Gravity modulators,” Finn said simply. “I’ll explain more when we get back to base. Wait until I get the gravity reverted and you can go in.” He turned back to Jess. “Yeah, Jess, just give me a minute.” 

“What are you doing here?” Niv asked hoarsely. 

“We came after you, obviously,” Jess said quietly. 

“But how did you know where to find me?”

“We didn’t exactly. Lita came to Hypori and asked us to find you, though.” 

“You’re kidding.”

“Tiran was with her.” 

“You got both Leks. What a treat,” he coughed.

“Their kid was abducted. You thought we wouldn’t get the full experience?” Jess chuckled. “They got a ransom demand: stop trade with the Resistance if they wanted to get you back alive. The General didn’t like those terms and sent us instead. We followed some clues and…well, here I am.” 

“I’m…honored,” Niv managed. “But how did you find me?” 

Jess sighed. “It’s kind of a long story, but the short version is that they underestimated Black Squadron.” 

“Rookie mistake,” Niv gasped.

“Yeah,” Jess chuckled. “Don’t talk. We need that oxygen getting back to your body and brain, not your voice.” 

Niv gave an annoyed groan in response. 

“Hey, Jess!” Finn called. “I’m about to disengage the grav modulator. I need you and Niv to sit down with your backs to the…wall? Floor? Current floor/standard gravity wall. Put your legs up along the standard floor.” 

“Copy,” Jess said. “Niv, you hear that?” 

The other pilot nodded. 

“Alright, I’m gonna move you,” Jess said and positioned them both against the wall. “Ready, Finn!” 

“Gravity shift in three…two…one…now,” Finn counted down.

Jess felt the gravity shift from under her legs to under her back. The sudden shift made her feel nauseous and unbalanced.

“Whoa, that’s terrible,” Jess muttered. 

“At least we were prepared for it this time,” Niv said.

Jess looked at Niv in horror. “They did that without telling you?”

Niv nodded. “A couple of times.”

“Bastards,” she spat. 

Iolo ran into the room. “Niv! Man, am I glad to see you!” He crashed to his knees next to his friend. Niv reached for Iolo and Jess let him go, letting the other man pull Niv close to his chest. 

“Same,” Niv said weakly returning the hug. 

“Can you carry him? He’s still recovering from hypoxia,” Jess said as she repacked the medpack.

“I’ve got him,” Iolo said. “I’ve got you, man.” 

Niv blinked repeatedly as if trying to clear his vision. “Who’s all here?” he asked.

“Right now, you’ve got me, Jess, and Finn,” Iolo said. “Poe, Snap, and Karé are taking care of the bridge.”

“You all came?” Niv asked, his eyes wide.

“Yeah, Niv—we’re all here,” Iolo said. “Come on, let’s get you home.” 

“I can walk,” Niv argued.

“I’m sure you can, buddy,” Iolo chuckled as he adjusted Niv to a better position to lift him. “But just to be safe.” 

“Fine,” Niv said tiredly.

“Help me up?” Iolo asked. Jess nodded. “On three. One, two, three.”

Jess steadied Iolo as he stood, lifting Niv with him. 

“You got him?” Jess asked as she tucked the portable oxygen converter against Iolo’s chest.

“I got him,” Iolo confirmed. Jess slung the medpack over her shoulder and followed him out of the cell.

“How’s he doing?” Finn asked.

“Alive,” Jess replied. “He’s hypoxic, but otherwise…he looks pretty uninjured.”

“That’s good to hear,” Finn said.

“I still want Kalonia to get a good look at him before we declare him ok, though,” Jess added. “Nothing I say counts until she has her say and clears him of any serious injury.”

“She is the boss. Come on, let’s get back to the ships.” Finn held Jess’s blaster out to her. She took it back and checked for damage. “Iolo, you good?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Iolo said. He glanced down. “Niv’s out again.”

“That’s probably a good thing. Still has a pulse and breathing?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Jess looked at Finn. “You lead, I’ll sweep?”

Finn nodded. “Follow me.” 

“Poe, report,” Jess called over the comm as they slowly made their way back to the ships. 

“We’re good down here,” Poe said. “We have control of the bridge and the Corulagans have been apprehended. You?”

“On our way back to the rear launching bay now,” she reported.

“How’s Niv?” Poe asked.

“We got to him in time,” Jess said. “He needs some medical attention, but he’s ok,” Jess said.

“Good to hear. Now for the bad news—we have a problem,” Poe said.

Jess looked at Finn, wary as she lifted her comm back to her mouth.

“What is it?” she asked.

Poe’s next words echoed through the cell block. “Fallor isn’t here.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray! Niv's safe!
> 
> But this isn't the end. Can't they can't let someone get away with hurting a member of Black Squadron, now can they?
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting! :)
> 
> (I also put 16 chapters...but it might only be 15. Still working that out.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

Poe stood on the bridge waiting for Jess to arrive.

“What do you mean ‘ _Fallor’s not here’_?” Jess demanded as she strode onto the bridge. He was surprised that she was alone.

“Where are the others?”

“Finn and Iolo took Niv back to the shuttle to check him over.”

“Is he ok?” 

“He’ll live. He’s better than expected. What the hell happened up here?” Jess asked. “What do you mean that Fallor’s not here?”

“I mean he’s not on board this ship,” Poe said, turning to face her.

“But it is his ship?” Jess asked.

“Yes.”

“And he was here?”

“Yes. Logs show that he and his entourage left hours ago—before we’d even made the first jump towards the Cantros system from Elrood.”

“Damn it,” Jess hissed. “And you’re sure?”

“Positive. J, why are you asking?”

“Could they be playing us? Framing him?” Jess asked.

“I’m sure. But are you? Why are you hesitating now?” Poe asked incredulously.

“I’m not,” Jess shook her head. “But if we’re gonna go to Organa and totally burn down the relationship with Ord Mantell, we damn well better be right.” 

“We are. The logs show that fifteen hours ago, there were twenty-six lifeforms on this ship and then logs from ten hours ago show that Fallor and seven others left via a personal shuttle.”

“Makes sense. He brought an entourage of ten to Hypori—Darban’s with us and it seems likely he spaced the High Council’s spy,” Jess said.

“I thought the same. The most recent scans of the ship only showed seventeen lifeforms on board other than our squadron and they’re all accounted for: four that your group eliminated, eight that Snap and I have taken out, one that killed himself, and four that tried to escape, but were shot down by Karé,” he said.

“Those numbers don’t make sense. What about the Headhunters? We destroyed eighteen ships.”

“Looks like they were piloted by droids,” Poe said. “We’ve accounted for everyone between those who left with Fallor and those who were killed on board. I had Karé do a scan, too—nothing. And I looked through all of the security feeds—we’re alone on this ship now.”

“Any security droids?”

“We powered them down.” 

Jess nodded slowly before she frowned. “That’s only twenty-five lifeforms accounted for,” she said. “There’s still one here.”

“Niv.”

Jess squeezed her eyes closed. “Right. Ok, so what exactly happened up here?” 

“Like I said, we ran a lifeform scan and found twenty-three on board. We determined who were friendlies and who were combatants, and ran through the security feeds to make sure that the scan accounted for everyone. We had to stop, though, when the anarchists’ ship came in. They met with an Ord Mantellan that neither Darban nor I recognized. Looked like they were trying to make a deal. Snap landed and held them pinned in until I got down there. The Corulagan anarchists surrendered pretty easily, but…that’s where the firefight took place that we ended up having to shoot most of the crew from the ship.”

“So who are they?” Jess asked, nodding towards the Corulagans. “What do they want?”

“We don’t know,” Poe said. “They clammed up once they realized that we were serious.”

Jess looked around. “Where _is_ Darban?” 

“With Snap down on the launch bay floor.” 

“He’s ok?” 

“Yeah. He’s fine. He recognized a few of the people we ran into, but he didn’t know the man who was negotiating with the Corulagan anarchists.” 

“Let me guess: the negotiator is one of the ones who ended up getting killed?”

“He’s the one who shot himself. Coward,” Poe spat. 

“Damn it,” Jess hissed and stared out of the transparasteel window that oversaw the launch bay. She watched as Karé passed the life support barrier and eased her ship onto the floor. “Is she good?” Jess asked.

“Karé? Fine, I think. Snap didn’t say anything,” Poe said.

“It was my patch on the hyperdrive. I could have gotten her killed,” Jess said. “I don’t know what I did wrong.” 

Poe looked at Jess sympathetically and put his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go check in. See how her hyperdrive fix is holding.” 

Jess nodded and followed him down the stairs to the launch bay floor.

“How does your ship look, Karé?” Jess asked as she and Poe entered the launch bay. “Iolo said you had some trouble with the hyperdrive?”

“All good,” Karé said. “We got the damage patched up. It should get us home.”

“What did I miss?” Jess asked.

“You didn’t miss anything. There was an internal rupture between the hyperdrive and the compressor. Shoddy internal construction.”

“Good,” Jess said. “I was worried it was my work.”

“Not a chance,” Karé grinned. “Your patches held up just fine.”

“Still, I’m glad you caught it. That could have been bad.”

“Could have been, but wasn’t.” Karé put her hands on her hips and looked between Jess and Poe. “So do either of you have a plan?”

“Working on a loose one, yeah. Do you think Mindar was smuggling any thermal detonators when he did that fuel run side-job?” Poe asked.

“He’s an idiot. Probably,” Jess said. 

“I’ll think I saw some,” Karé said. “What do you want them for anyway?”

Jess laughed, realization in her eyes. “You wanna blow this ship up, don’t you?”

“Plant some detonators right at the core, yeah,” Poe grinned. “It’d be great to get this ship out of commission, don’t you think?”

Karé rolled her eyes and turned towards the ramp to the freighter. “Let me go check what he has.”

“Thank you, Karé!” Poe called after her. 

“Boss, you read?” Iolo said over the comm.

“Yeah, Iolo. I read. What’s up?” Poe asked.

“I wanna fly with Niv,” Iolo said. “Can I trade Finn?” 

“Finn can’t fly an X-Wing.” 

“No, but he could fly Mindar’s ship,” Iolo said. “I’ll fly the _Strato_ and Karé can fly my X-Wing?”

Poe sighed. “Finn, you listening?” 

“Yeah, I’m right here with Iolo,” Finn answered.

“You open to the switch?”

“If it’s a familiar design, sure,” Finn agreed.

“Found them!” Karé called as she came back down the ramp, a crate of detonators in her arms. Poe looked over, considering Iolo’s request. Karé frowned when she realized that Poe’s gaze was locked on her. “Did something happen?”

“Think Finn can fly Mindar’s ship?” Poe asked. 

Her brow quirked in surprise. “Yeah. It’s a Kuat design, so it’s almost identical to the _Strato_. Why?”

“Iolo wants to fly the _Strato_ to be with Niv. Which would put Finn in Mindar’s ship and you in an X-Wing,” Jess explained. 

Poe looked at Karé. “You good with that?” 

“Fine with me,” Karé shrugged and put the crate down. “I’d be happy to fly an X-Wing again.” 

“Ok, we’ll make it happen,” Poe said into his comm.

“Thank you, Commander,” Iolo replied. 

“Boss, we should have Iolo and Finn bring their ships up here to do the swap. You and I can plant the charges on our way back to our ships,” Jess suggested. 

“Sounds good. Iolo, Finn—you heard that?” Poe asked.

“We copy,” Finn said. “Be there in five.” 

“What are we gonna do with them?” Karé asked, nodding her head towards the Corulagans. “We don’t have any more pilots to spare.” 

Poe thought for a moment. “I think Organa still has some friends on Cantros 7. If I remember my mom’s stories right, they were heavily involved in the Rebellion. Maybe they’ll help us out.” 

Jess sighed. “Not my favorite idea, but it’ll work.” 

“Oh yeah?” Karé asked teasingly. “Not your favorite?” 

“Yeah.” Jess gave a lopsided grin. “Not like I have a better one.” 

“Ok, sure. But how do we get them there?” Snap asked. “Like Pava said: we don’t have any pilots to spare. And we’re pretty full up for prisoners.” 

“I could stun them,” Jess offered. “Leave them on the floor of one of the shuttles.”

“I, for one, hate that idea,” Karé said.

“Me too,” Snap said.

“We’re not stunning them,” Poe muttered.

“X-Wing cargo hold?” Jess suggested.

“Not pressurized. We’d kill them,” Snap countered.

“I didn’t say we don’t give them oxygen masks _before_ we put them in the cargo hold. I’m not a monster,” Jess replied with mock offense.

“Yeah, but this definitely qualifies as you ‘ _not having any better ideas’_ , Testor,” Karé teased.

From the corner of his eye, Poe saw Jess trying to conceal her smirk as she flipped Karé off.

Poe didn’t pay attention to his pilots’ continued banter. He walked toward the Corulag ship and the three men sitting on the ground next to it, their hands in binders behind their back. Two of the men were barely more than teenagers, but the third man was older—his dark hair streaked with gray. Poe could tell by the way the two younger men were looking at him that he was their leader.

“I know you’ve been listening,” Poe said. “So are you going to come peacefully or do I let my pilots get creative with how we get you out of here?”

“We’ll come peacefully,” the oldest man said. “And I’ll fly my own ship.” 

“Really? You’re gonna let him fly himself?” Jess questioned. “Sounds like a bad idea, Boss.”

Poe considered for a moment before turning to Snap. “Disable their weapons systems and rig their hyperdrive as a secondary to the _Strato._ They don’t jump if Finn doesn’t jump. And take their shields offline.”

“On it. Pava, with me,” Snap said and motioned for Jess to follow him onto the ship. 

Poe turned back to the three Corulagans. “Listen—we’re gonna let you fly yourselves out of here, but you’re not gonna have weapons and you’re not gonna have an independent hyperdrive.”

“What are you going to do to us?” the dark-haired man demanded. 

“We’re gonna take you to Cantros 7. Have them detain you until we figure out what to do with you,” Poe said.

“So you want us to fly ourselves to our own prison,” the man sneered.

“Basically, yeah,” Poe agreed. “Or you can stay here and die when we blow the ship up. Your call.”

The man looked at the two younger captives before he looked back at Poe and sighed. “Fine.”

“Great. Glad we’re all on the same page,” Poe said and turned to board their ship.

“Aren’t you gonna free us?” the man shouted after him. 

“When it’s time to go, I will,” Poe replied. “Karé, watch them.” 

“Yes, sir,” Karé called. 

Poe turned and disappeared up the ramp. “How’s it going in here?” he asked as he entered the cockpit.

“Shields are down. Working on the hyperdrive now,” Jess said.

“I’m almost done with the weapon systems,” Snap said. “You know, leaving them without weapons could be a risk.” 

“You’d rather let some detainees have access to a fully functional ship?” Poe asked.

“Nope. Just saying we’ll have to be on our game,” Snap muttered. “And…got it.” 

“Great. Jess, how’s that hyperdrive?” Poe asked.

“It’s a Corulagan design. Niv would do a better job,” Jess said.

“Maybe, but he’s not an option,” Poe said. 

“I know. It’s just that this guy’s made some heavy modifications to a system that I’m not as familiar with,” Jess said. “It’s taking longer than I expected.”

“Come on, I’ve seen you work miracles with ships,” Snap goaded.

“I said it’s taking more time, not that I couldn’t do it,” Jess replied with a smirk. “Done.” She slammed the metal panel closed and put her multitool back in her pocket. 

“Nice work. As soon as Iolo and Finn come ‘round and we get everyone situated in their ships, Pava and I will go plant the detonators. Then we can all get the hell out of here,” Poe said. 

“I like that plan,” Snap said. “Especially the ‘get the hell out of here’ part of it.”

“Thought you might. Come on,” Poe said and led them off the ship. “Just sit tight until they get here.” 

“Pava!” Karé called. “Want to check out that patch?”

“Obviously,” Jess said and followed Karé onto Mindar’s ship.

Poe shook his head as the two women disappeared up the ramp.

“Excuse me, Poe,” a voice startled him. He turned around to see Darban approaching him from behind.

“Darban, hey. What’s up?”

“Where do you want me?”

“Oh. Um, let’s have you go with Iolo on the _Strato_ , just in case he needs someone to help with Niv,” Poe said. 

Darban frowned. “I don’t know anything about medicine.”

“That’s fine. From what Iolo said, Niv’s stable, but a second set of eyes wouldn’t hurt. Just…be there if he needs another set of hands,” Poe shrugged. “Think you can do that?”

“Yes, I can,” Darban nodded. 

Poe clapped the younger man on the shoulder. “Good man. Knew we could count on you,” he said and turned them both to watch as Iolo and Finn landed their ships in the hangar. 

“Hey Boss!” Iolo called once his canopy had opened. “We ready to get out of here?” 

“Hey guys. Glad you could make it. And just about. Finn—what’s the status of your passenger?” Poe asked as Finn came down the ramp from the _Strato_.

“Which one?” Finn replied. “Mindar is unconscious in the hold, still in binders. Niv is also unconscious, but at least he's in a bunk. He looks like he’s doing ok.” 

“Good,” Poe said. “Pava, Kun—get out here!” he shouted.

“What’s up?” Jess shouted back, poking her head down the ramp from Mindar’s ship. “Oh. They’re here.”

“Yeah, so come on!” Poe said and waited for the pilots to join them. “Everything look good?”

“Yep. I’d fly it,” Jess said. Poe smiled—that was the best confirmation for space-worthiness he’d get from Jess.

“Alright…game plan,” Poe began. “Snap: you’re in your X-Wing, Karé: you’re in Iolo’s X-Wing, Finn: you’re flying Mindar’s ship, and Iolo: you and Darban are in the _Strato_ with Niv and Mindar. Pava and I will follow as soon as we get the detonators planted. Everyone good?”

Poe waited for confirmation from the squad before he turned to face Snap. “You’re point until Pava and I get up in the air. If something happens, you get everyone home,” Poe said, not breaking eye contact with Snap until the older man nodded solemnly. “As for them,” Poe said, indicating to the Corulagans and their ship, “get them loaded on their ship and escort them out. I want you to square them off: X-Wings in front, shuttle and freighter in back.”

“You got it,” Snap said. “We’ll see you out there.” 

“You will. We shouldn’t be long,” Poe said with a grin. He walked over to the Corulagans and looked down at their leader. “I’ve got something to do. That man over there is Snap and he’s in charge while I’m gone. Got it?”

The man scoffed. “Whatever.”

“Hey—every one of our ships can out-gun and out-maneuver you. Do what you’re told and don’t make us kill you,” Poe said dangerously.

“Sure thing, Captain,” the man sneered. 

“Actually, it’s Commander,” Poe corrected. He tilted his head to see the man’s arm better before he reached behind him and removed his chrono from his wrist. “Hope you don’t mind, I’m taking this,” he said and pocketed the device. 

“You ready?” Jess asked. 

“Waiting on you,” Poe said brightly as he crossed over to her. He helped Jess pick up the crate of detonators and led the way towards the engine room. 

“Know where we’re going?” Jess asked. 

“I have a pretty good idea. Come on,” Poe said. He led the way through the first segment of the ship towards the Engineering block. “In here.” 

Jess looked around the Engineering Hall. It was unlike anything she had seen before. “This is…wow.”

“Pretty amazing, right? Thought a gear-head like you would appreciate this. It’s one of the best-preserved pieces of Imperial tech I’ve ever seen,” Poe said. “It’s almost a shame we’re gonna destroy it.” 

“At least we got to see it,” Jess shrugged. “So where’s the core?”

“This way,” Poe said and motioned Jess deeper into the room. “Here.”

“And we’re just gonna set all of the detonators up right here?” Jess asked. 

“Have a better idea?” Poe asked.

Jess smirked. “It’s just that liquid oxygen makes for a really nice explosion.” 

Poe chuckled. “Go for it.” 

Jess grabbed an armful of the detonators and made her way to the life support systems and the liquid oxygen tanks.

“How are we going to detonate these?” Jess called to Poe as she planted the devices.

“With this,” Poe said, holding up the chrono he’d taken from the Corulagan pilot. 

“A single chrono?” Jess asked incredulously.

“We only need one detonator to go off. The rest will explode as part of a chain reaction,” Poe said.

“And you know how to do that because…?”

“Why do you think?” 

“Zorri?” Jess guessed.

“Technically, her mom,” Poe replied. “But right family at least.” 

“Damn,” Jess laughed. “Alright. I’ll leave you to it.” 

The two pilots placed the detonators throughout Engineering, targeting the most explosive components. 

“What’s the chrono set for?” Jess asked.

“Fifteen minutes. We’ve gotta go,” Poe said. They left engineering and ran through the hallways back to their ships. 

“How much time do we have?” Jess asked as they sprinted through the final doorway and into the rear launch bay. 

“Six minutes. Plenty of time,” Poe said with a wink. Jess rolled her eyes.

Both pilots raced up the ladders and into their cockpits. Poe began his startup sequence before he’d even closed his canopy or pulled on his helmet.

“Ready?” Poe asked as soon as his ship comm came online.

“Let’s hit it,” Jess said. They lifted their ships off the ground and flew out of the landing bay doors into space. 

“Coming around,” Jess said as she guided her ship towards the front of the IMX-120. “I’ve got eyes on them.” 

“Hey! There you two are,” Snap said.

“Aww. Were you starting to get nervous?” Jess asked.

“Never,” Karé replied. 

“Always,” Snap said at the same time. “What? It’s Pava and Dameron—do you know any pair more likely to attract catastrophe?” 

“Wow. Rude,” Jess said with fake indignation. “Karé for not worrying about us and Snap for thinking we’re walking disaster magnets.” 

“Not rude. There weren’t any explosions,” Karé countered. “And you know that I have a very firm ‘don’t worry until there’s an explosion’ policy when it comes to you. Saves me a lot of time.”

“We can sort out the rudeness of Karé’s apparent indifference and Snap’s completely incorrect comment later,” Poe interrupted. 

“Fine. So how long until that thing blows?” Snap asked. 

Poe glanced at his chrono. “About 90 seconds. Right now, let’s get these guys over to Cantros 7 and—"

Suddenly, the Corulagan pilot engaged his thrusters and shot forward away from Black Squadron, nearly taking out Snap and Karé’s X-Wings. The pilot pushed the ship into a steep dive and a shock loop to fly back toward the doomed IMX-120.

“Kriff! Snap, don’t let them get away!” Poe said.

“I’m trying! But I’m not exactly sure what you want me to do. Fire on them?” Snap shouted. “I’m in an X-Wing, I don’t exactly have a tractor beam and we took their shields offline. Our options are pretty limited.” 

Poe swore again and flipped on an open channel. “Corulag Ship—stand down,” he ordered. 

The ship didn’t turn around. 

“Corulag Ship—you will be destroyed. Turn around,” Poe said. No response. “Don’t make us shoot you down,” Poe warned. They still didn’t respond. Poe flipped back to the closed comm channel. “Pava, can you try a funnel loop?”

“Sure thing,” Jess said. Poe looked on as Jess arced her X-Wing around the larger ship in an attempt to herd them back towards the rest of Black Squadron. Suddenly, the Corulag ship fired on Jess. Poe’s heart clenched in his chest as he watched the red beams pass Jess’s cockpit. He could see the glow from the cannon blast reflected on the transparasteel. 

“Fuck,” Jess swore. 

“You ok?” Poe asked, his throat tight.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was a glancing blow and my shields held,” Jess said. “But it looks like they got their weapons systems working again, so I’m not sure I want to go back for seconds.”

“Yeah, don’t do that,” Karé agreed. 

“Pava, fall back,” Poe ordered. 

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Jess said as she flew back towards the rest of the squadron. 

Poe flipped back to the open comm channel. “Bad call firing on one of my people,” Poe said warningly. He watched as the Corulag ship streaked back towards the open launch bay of the prison ship. “Corulag ship—do not attempt to board that IMX-120 or you will be destroyed,” he warned them again. 

This time, the comm crackled for a moment before the voice of the dark-haired man responded. “We’re taking this ship as our own. You can’t stop us.” 

“You know that we armed the ship—you saw us with a box of detonators. That ship is literal seconds from exploding. You board that ship, you’ll die,” Poe replied over the comm.

“You’re lying,” the man said. “You may have taken our bartering chip, but we won’t let you also take this ship.”

“Your bartering chip?” Snap asked. “What bartering chip?”

“The Magistrate’s son.”

“Are you not speaking Basic? We planted thermal detonators at the core,” Jess said. Poe could hear the annoyance in her voice. “If you don’t turn around now, you won’t be clear of the blast. And you don’t have shields—you don’t stand a chance. That ship can’t even jump, it isn’t worth your life.” 

“Give us the Magistrate’s son and you can keep the ship,” the man answered. 

“So you’re being willfully ignorant,” Jess muttered. “Like hell will we give you Magistrate Lek’s son and we just told you that we’re going to destroy that ship. There is no trade!” 

“You’re going to get yourself killed and for what?” Karé asked.

“We won’t die in vain. We will not be silenced! The government of Corulag no longer represents the wishes of the people! We stand with the First Order!” the man shouted as he flew back into the launch bay.

“Stop!” Poe shouted, but it was too late: the IMX-120 exploded in a blinding flash, destroying the Corulagan ship along with it. 

Black squadron sat in silence, watching the ship explode until nothing remained of the prison ship but shrapnel and debris. The Corulagan man’s last words still echoed in their ears.

“They weren’t anarchists,” Jess said, finally breaking the silence. “They were First Order Sympathizers.” 

Poe could tell that her words were hanging heavily in each cockpit as they processed the information. 

“That means that the First Order knows about the Magistrate’s support,” Iolo said. “And about Niv being with the Resistance.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Karé said. “They didn’t seem all that bright. Maybe they weren’t even connected to the First Order. Maybe they thought that the name would be enough to scare us.”

“That sounds overly hopeful,” Jess said quietly. 

“There’s nothing we can do about it here. Let’s get back to base and regroup,” Poe ordered. “Pava, can you get a jump sequence worked out for us?” 

“On it,” Jess said. 

“Iolo, how’s the kid?” Snap asked.

“He’s alive,” Iolo said. “He’s been out pretty much since we got him on board. His vitals look good, though.” 

“Glad to hear it,” Snap said. “You let us know if anything changes.” 

“Absolutely.”

“Alright. Sending the jump sequence to Beebee-Ate for verification and then we’ll get moving,” Jess said. 

“Received. Feeding them to Bee now,” Poe said. “Give us a rundown while he processes it.” 

“You got it,” Jess replied. “If Beebee-Ate approves my sequence, we’ll have to do five jumps: three short to cross the Corellian Trade Spine, the Hydian Way, and the Rimma Trade Route, then a long stretch to reach the Corellian Run, and then one last jump to get back home. Theoretically, it should all be clear, but most of its gonna be through Wild Space or, when we’ve dropped into real space, crossing a hyperway, so keep alert.”

BB-8 beeped in approval. Poe looked over the jump sequence one more time before getting back on the comm. “Alright, Pava, Beebee-Ate says your jump sequence looks good. Send it out.” 

“Incoming,” Jess said. 

“Received,” Karé replied. 

“Jump on my mark,” Poe said. “Ready…and…now.” 

Poe watched as the five other ships snapped out of real space and into hyperspace before engaging his own engine and joining them in the blue slipstream. 

Just as Jess had described, the first three jumps were short—just enough to get them past the major hyperspace lanes. The next section, though, was long and, theoretically, easy flying. 

For the first hour, Poe tried to work on his mission report, but when he realized that he’d written the same sentence four times, he gave up. Instead, he fiddled with his comm unit to move the primary channel to a secondary frequency and opened up the primary frequency for a private comm. He sent two clicks to Jess and waited for her response. After a minute, he heard the faint click of Jess switching onto the private comm.

“Hey Boss,” Jess greeted. 

“Hey Testor,” Poe said tiredly. 

“What’s with the private comm?” she asked. “You OK?”

“Something’s bugging me, but I can’t put my finger on it,” Poe said. 

“Do I get a hint?” 

“That’s exactly it: I don’t know,” Poe sighed. He glanced out of his cockpit window. He could make out flickers of Jess’s ship just above and behind his. Other ships in hyperspace always looked like they had a faulty cloaking device installed, but it was just how light moved around the hyperspace lanes. “Something feels wrong, but…I don’t know what. Doesn’t it feel weird to you, too?”

“I mean…maybe,” Jess allowed. “There’s a lot of moving pieces. It kind of feels like a high-stakes game of professional sabacc. But given the circumstances, I don’t know that I’m the most reliable source of what feels right or wrong at the moment.” 

Poe leaned his head back as far as he could. “Maybe I’m looking for a conspiracy where there isn’t one,” he said to his canopy. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” 

“Yeah. That whole Holdo-thing wasn’t your best look.” 

Poe scoffed. “You weren’t even there.”

“I heard enough,” Jess said. “I know it wasn’t pretty.” 

“Yeah, it wasn’t,” Poe sighed.

“At least the General gave you your rank back.”

“Definitely didn’t deserve that.” He shook his head—not that Jess could see. “I deserved a court-martial at the very least. Prison, realistically. Hell, if Organa had ordered me in front of a firing squad, I wouldn’t have thought she was being unreasonable.” 

“No, no. Firing squads are _so_ First Order,” Jess tried to joke.

“Maybe,” Poe chuckled.

“Either way, welcome to the club: people who should have gone to prison but were given a second and highly undeserved chance by a former Rebellion leader,” Jess teased gently. “We’re a very exclusive group.”

“Who are the members?”

“As of right now: you and me.” 

“What a select group,” Poe huffed a laugh. “Sorry for bugging you with my brain fog.”

“Na. You can always bother me with brain fog.”

“Thanks. But this…it’s probably nothing.” 

“Giving up on looking for nefarious plans?” Jess asked. 

“For now,” Poe agreed. “Hey, I also wanted to say thanks.” 

“For what?” Jess asked. 

Poe hesitated for a moment. He hadn’t been planning on going there tonight, but he was going on 36 (very stressful) hours without sleep and was too tired to stop himself.

“For talking me down back on that moon,” he said eventually. “I was…I wasn’t at my best. I felt frozen. Like I knew I was going to make the wrong decision and couldn’t stop it, so instead I couldn’t make any decision at all.” 

“Really, I’m a little surprised it didn’t happen sooner,” Jess said. “You’ve been a little more cautious than I’d like ever since Crait, so I was kind of waiting for a crash.” 

“You noticed?” 

“Yeah. We all did,” Jess said. 

“All?”

“Yeah. Me, Snap, Karé, Iolo, Niv, Suralinda…hell, if Finn had known you for more than a few weeks, he probably would have noticed, too.” She paused. Poe could imagine the look on her face as she decided what to say next. “We worry about you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

Jess laughed. “It’s exactly because you say stuff like that that we do. We’ve discussed it.” 

“You’ve talked about it, too?”

“Definitely,” Jess said casually. Jess, more than anyone else, was able to flip between ‘Commander Dameron’ and ‘Poe’ without too much trouble. She had somehow figured out when to treat him like a CO and when to treat him like a friend. It was an impossible line to walk, he knew, because the rules changed daily, but she made it look almost easy. Poe hadn’t ever told her how grateful he was for that, but now didn’t feel like the time to bring it up. He needed to, though, he thought…just not now.

“What do you talk about?” Poe asked, unsure if he really wanted to know. 

“We talk about everyone who we’ve lost and how much we all miss them,” Jess said. “And the thought of adding Niv’s name to that list that you were talking about…it scared us. We know more names are gonna be added to that list by the time this is over, very possibly some of ours, but that doesn’t make it easier for us. Or you. And sometimes, it kind of feels like you don’t think you can say that.”

Poe didn’t want to think about adding any of Black Squadron’s names to that list. L’ulo’s had been enough, he didn’t want to think about how much it would hurt to have Jess’s name on it. He didn’t know how he would handle it if something happened to her—another thing he thought he should probably tell her at some point in the future.

Poe realized he’d been quiet too long and cleared his throat. “What do you mean?” 

Jess sighed but didn’t comment on his prolonged silence. “It’s like…sometimes you think you can’t be real with us because you have to be the tough leader and support us, so you don’t always tell us how you’re doing until it’s too late. And I think you still feel guilty about what happened—”

“I do,” Poe whispered.

“—and are too embarrassed to be open about it and that worries us,” Jess continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Because who can you go to and cry on their shoulder when it gets to be too much?” 

“I go to you,” Poe said. 

“Not always,” Jess countered quickly. “Look—we’ve been through it all together. You know me better than anyone else in the universe. And I think I know you just as well. And because of that, I know that you mask things—especially about Crait. And we’re all worried that it’ll get you killed.” 

“I’m not suicidal, Jess.” 

“I know that, Poe,” Jess said soothingly. “We all know that. We know that you don’t _want_ to die, but then you go off and throw yourself headfirst into dangerous situations like you don’t _care_ if you die,” she paused for a moment as if to make sure he had time to process her words. “It’s why Snap and Karé make you promise not to do stupid shit.”

“It’s kind of ironic—this speech coming from you,” Poe said softly. “I told you something similar when we were coming home from Ibanjji years ago.”

“You did. That’s why I know what I’m talking about.” Jess sighed. Poe could practically feel her eyes on his ship. “You said you come to me when you need to let it out, but you don’t always tell me what’s going on in your head. And sometimes…it’s like you just get stuck up there. I can see it.” 

“You do that, too, you know,” Poe said quietly. 

“Yeah, I know.” Jess gave a humorless chuckle. “What a pair we make. Listen, Poe…you don’t have to talk to me about what’s going on up there. I just…want you to talk to someone.”

“Who?” Poe laughed bitterly. “Dr. Rhyder died over Crait.”

Poe inhaled sharply. He hadn’t meant to say that. He hadn’t meant to think of the Psytech and his staff dying over Crait. But he had.

There had always been a strange safety between Jess and Poe in their X-Wings. They could say things to each other over a private comm that they didn’t know how to say to each other face to face. And some things they never thought they’d say or never meant to say came unbidden. It was almost ironic, Poe thought, that they were the most open when they were sealed in their separate ships. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that. I think about what happened a lot,” Poe said quietly. “About everyone we—about everyone that I lost.”

“I know you do.”

That was another thing about Jess—she hadn’t ever tried to absolve Poe of his actions from that day. She knew he’d done what he’d thought was right when he was in the moment and she didn’t hold it against him, but she also held him accountable to be better. It was refreshing in a lot of ways. Steadying. 

“Why haven’t you said something before?” Poe asked eventually.

“Because I didn’t want to push,” Jess sighed. “Because this has already been really hard on you and I didn’t need to pile on—not after that fight.”

“That was a big one, wasn’t it?” Poe said. 

“The worst,” Jess agreed. 

“Nah. The worst was when I asked you to join Black Squadron. You actually punched me that time,” Poe said in a small attempt to lighten the mood.

Jess laughed. “I did, didn’t I? But you snuck up on me. It was self-defense.” She sighed. “Look, Poe—to answer your question: I don’t think there’s some plot or anything. I think that some guy with a vendetta got lucky and found a way to get to us.”

“Yeah,” Poe agreed. “You’re probably right.” 

“Of course I’m right,” Jess said. “When have I ever been wrong?”

“Do you actually want me to answer that?” Poe asked.

“No. Not at all,” Jess backtracked. 

Poe sighed. They were getting close to their drop point and they’d need to close their comm before then, but he had one more thing to say to his friend. “Jess—I know you’re there for me. I know you’re always there. And I know I can come to you with anything. I don’t always find you when I should, but I never doubt that you’d be there and that you’ll have my back. And just…thank you. Thank you for being that…for being there and…supporting me, I guess.” 

“That was a shit ending to an otherwise excellent speech,” Jess laughed.

“Yeah, it got away from me at the end there,” Poe chuckled. “But I mean it. Thanks.” 

“Anytime, Poe,” Jess said. “I hope you know that I feel the same way about you.” 

“I do,” Poe said. It felt good to get some of what he’d been feeling off his chest. He felt lighter than he had in weeks. He rolled his shoulders and groaned. “Ready to go back to the main comm channel?”

“Five credits says that Finn and Karé are playing one of those debate games and that Snap is just feeding the fire,” Jess said.

“Not taking that bet,” Poe laughed. “Not when I know that I’ll lose.” 

“Suit yourself,” Jess said. 

Poe heard the minute click as she flipped back to the main comm. He took a deep breath to get back into the mindset of _Commander Dameron_ and flipped back to the main channel. Even though Jess had just told him he didn’t have to do that in front of them, he wasn’t sure he was ready to let everyone else see what Jess saw. 

Karé’s voice immediately came over the main comm link.

“—it’s in a bowl! It’s a soup!” Karé argued. 

“But there are chunks added to it when it’s done cooking,” Finn shot back. 

“That’s your definition of a salad? So what, you’d call protein paste a soup?” Karé asked.

"I'm not sure I'd call protein paste a _food_ ," Iolo muttered.

“That’s not the topic right now,” Snap said. 

“What did we just step into?” Jess asked.

“Karé challenged Finn to _Soup, Salad, Sandwich._ He’s actually really good at it,” Snap said.

“Oooh. Good game,” Jess laughed. 

“I thought I banned that game,” Poe groaned.

“No, you banned the one where Karé asked who would win: a trillion rancors or a sun,” Jess said. “I don’t remember that name.”

“ _Battle Royale_ _,”_ Karé supplied _._ _“_ And I stand by what I said: a trillion rancors is a lot of rancors.” 

“Plus, you were off on a private comm. You didn’t get a say in the game,” Snap added. “But now that you’re here: Kodari Rice Sweet. Salad or soup?” 

“Salad,” Jess replied quickly. 

“Thank you!” Finn crowed. “Pava agrees with me!”

“Betrayed, Pava. Betrayed,” Karé laughed. 

Poe groaned again for dramatic effect but grinned to himself. He was glad that after everything, his team was still very much the same in all the ways that mattered. 

“How long until we drop?” Poe asked.

“Two minutes,” Iolo responded. 

“How’s Niv?” Jess asked.

“Sleeping. He’s been in and out most of the trip,” Iolo said. “Poe, when you call in, can you have Medical waiting when we land?”

“Definitely,” Poe said. A ping from the nav computer let Poe know that they were about to exit hyperspace near Ryloth. “Ok, everyone. Get ready to drop. We’ll make a course adjustment, pass the Corellian Run, and then it’s just a quick jump home. When we drop—weapons primed, fingers on triggers until we get an all-clear from the _Strato._ ”

“We know the drill, Boss,” Karé said. 

Poe ignored her. “Since we’re getting close to base, we’re gonna go radio silent for this last jump. Just to be safe. It looks like the jump will be less than an hour, so not too long. Iolo, when we drop in the Hypori system I want you to do one more primary scan before we contact base. After that, we’re gonna stay on alert until we get the all-clear. Copy?”

He waited until each of his team members confirmed that they’d heard the plan. He watched the chrono on his screen as it counted down to their exit point. With twenty seconds left, Poe made his final adjustments for the drop. 

Three. 

Two.

One.

Poe dropped out of hyperspace into real space, his hands on the yoke, ready to fire. The other ships dropped around him, all waiting tensely for Iolo to give an all-clear. 

“We’re clear, Boss,” Iolo said. 

“Good. Let’s get to our next jump point. Maintain radio silence,” Poe ordered. 

The adjustments between jumps were by far the most dangerous part of their return journey. As a policy, the Resistance tried to avoid major throughways as often as they could, sometimes by running parallel to a major route or by taking a slightly longer route that relied on more minor hyperspace lanes. One of the times when they couldn’t avoid the major hyperspace routes, though, was when they had to cross them. The only way to do it was to drop out of hyperspace and fly in real space until they cleared the route. Theoretically, they should appear as less than a shadow on any ship’s sensor that was passing by in a hyperlane, but…it wasn’t something Poe was willing to bet on. 

When BB-8 alerted him that they’d reached the jump point, Poe released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Ready to jump on my mark,” he said. “And…mark.” 

The six ships again disappeared out of realspace and into hyperspace. 

This time, Poe did actually work on his mission report. He knew that his sleep-deprived brain wasn’t writing the most articulate report he’d ever produced and that it would need serious editing the next day, but at least he’d gotten a start on it. 

A ping from BB-8 alerted him to the approaching drop point. He stowed his datapad and watched as the chrono on his screen counted down to the drop. 

As soon as he was in real space, he was again on high alert, looking for any threat that may have followed them to their base. 

“Primary scans look good. Nothing around us for parsecs,” Iolo said. “We’re clear for contact with base.” 

“Thanks, Iolo,” Poe said and relaxed minutely. He flipped the comm channel to the base frequency. “Hana Base, this is Black Leader for the General,” he said over the comm.

“Stand by,” the comm operator said. Moments later, a new voice came over the comm.

“Commander. Good to hear from you,” Organa said. “I trust everything went well?”

“Yes, Ma’am. We’re coming home with all parties accounted for.” 

“We’re showing 6 ships on approach.”

“That’s correct, Ma’am. We found Lek’s X-Wing and a light freighter,” Poe said.

“Found?” Organa asked incredulously. 

Poe chuckled. “I’ll explain when we land.”

“I’ll look forward to hearing it. Anything that I should advise Medical of?”

“We found Lek. He’s alive, but he could definitely use some professional care. Requesting Medical personnel to be standing by,” Poe replied.

“We’ll be ready, Commander.”

“Expected landing in sixteen minutes.”

“Copy that. Base out,” Organa said. 

“Black Leader out,” Poe said and ended the comm. He flipped back to the Black Squadron open channel. “Alright. Let’s take them down. Pava, take point. I’ll sweep.”

“You got it, Boss,” Jess said and turned her ship down towards the planet.

Poe watched as the two shuttles and two X-Wings followed her before he trailed them to the base below, grateful that this time, they were coming home with a win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter for not a lot of action and some fluff, but it helps get us to where this story's going, I promise. :) 
> 
> Plus, I like Jess and Poe being vulnerable with each other. (I told someone that I would deal more with Crait in another story, but this adventure is strongly impacted by the repercussions of it, so we get a little bit of Poe's processing and Jess's response in this story, too.)
> 
> And 'Soup, Salad, Sandwich' is debatably my favorite "Ridiculous Arguments" game ever, so of course they had to play it.
> 
> Thank you for reading! As always--your comments make my day. :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Black Squadron landed at Hana Base, but that wasn’t obvious from the level of activity on the landing pad. From her cockpit, Jess could see the ground crew, a Medical team, Command staff, and some miscellaneous pilots as well as other personnel. It looked like over half of the base was waiting for them. As soon as the ships were down, the ground crew moved in to check them out. 

One of the many, _many_ reasons that Jess didn’t let anyone else touch her ship was the number of modifications she had made to her T-70. She didn’t trust anyone not to miscalibrate something and for it to then not work correctly the next time she was in the air. Tonight, though, she was too tired to argue. She begrudgingly gave one of the techs that she sort-of trusted permission to check out her heavily-modified ship, but only after threatening him to not adjust anything if he valued his life. 

“Be nice,” Poe muttered as he walked by. 

“I _am_ nice!” she shouted after him. 

Jess felt oddly disconnected from everything happening around her. It was then that she realized exactly how tired she was. Stims were in short supply, so they hadn’t taken any out with them which meant that, by her calculations, none of them had slept for going on thirty-nine hours. She willed her exhaustion down—she knew she couldn’t sleep quite yet.

She watched as Dr. Kalonia and the Medical team rushed onto the _Strato_ only to emerge a moment later with Niv on a hover-stretcher and the doctor calling out orders as they rushed him towards the sickbay. Iolo ran alongside the stretcher while Tiran and Lita followed close behind. For a moment, Lita looked over at Jess and held her gaze. The Magistrate mouthed _“Thank you,”_ to Jess. She nodded in response and Lita looked away, quickly following her son out of the hangar.

Just as suddenly as the activity had begun, it ended, leaving just a few techs checking out the ships and Black Squadron standing wearily in the middle of the landing pad. No one said anything.

“How is everyone?” a new voice asked. Jess turned to see General Organa approaching them.

“Tired, Ma’am,” Snap said with a chuckle. “So tired.” 

“I’d expect nothing less after the mission you’ve had. Commander Dameron, Captain Pava: please come with me,” Organa said. “The rest of you, I had the mess reopened for you. Go get some food and some sleep. I’ll get your reports tomorrow.” 

The tired pilots looked to Poe.

“Do as the General says: get something to eat and then get to bed,” Poe ordered. He looked at his chrono and groaned. “Check in with me at 0900 for assignments.” 

The squadron nodded and slowly ambled away, their exhaustion evident now that they were safely back on base. 

Jess looked at Darban. “You remember how to get to the mess?” 

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Good. Go get something to eat, I’ll be there as soon as I’m done with the General,” Jess said. “Then we’ll get some sleep.” 

Darban furrowed his brow. “Are you in trouble? Do you need me to come with you to see the General and tell her that you didn’t do anything wrong?” 

“Na. Thanks for the offer, but I’m not in trouble,” Jess smiled. “She just wants a mission report. It’s standard procedure for the leaders of a mission to do a briefing immediately upon return. I’ll be fine. See you in a bit.” 

She watched as the young Festan disappeared down the hallway before she followed the General and Poe into Organa’s office. As soon as the door slid closed, Organa turned to face them. 

“I know you’ll both give full write-ups of your mission, but I wanted to hear it first hand,” Organa said.

“You don’t want to wait until we can report to all of Command?” Jess asked.

“They can read the report later. I want it while it’s fresh in your minds,” Organa replied. “So, let’s start at the beginning—you left base and where did you go?” 

Jess and Poe recounted everything that had happened in the last 28 hours to the General: how they decided to go to Vestar, setting the Vestari on the course for Rebellion, the ion trail that led to Bicol Mindar and Niv’s ship, deciding to bring Mindar and his ship back with them, splitting up between the Cantros system and the Faldos system, finding and infiltrating the IMX-120, the arrival of the Corulagan ship, and finding Niv. All leading up to the destruction of the IMX-120. 

“Snap and the rest of Black Squadron got them out of the launch bay while Jess and I planted the charges and got back to our ships in the rear bay. Everything was going according to plan until they rabbited,” Poe said. “They regained control of their weapons systems and headed back for the IMX. I wasn’t willing to risk any of my team going after them. They flew back into the launch bay with the intent of taking the ship, but…” Poe didn’t finish his thought.

“So…what’s your conclusion?” Organa asked. “Who were they?”

“At first…we thought that Fallor was working with an anarchist group from Corulag,” Jess said. “We assumed they were looking to upset the Corulagan government or something. All things considered—it’s a young government and with the instability of the galaxy, things are fluid in a lot of places.”

“But why would they want to hold Lieutenant Lek for ransom? The anarchist groups tend to side with us,” Organa said. “And Magistrate Lek is popular with the people.”

“Even the most popular politicians always have their critics, General,” Poe smirked. “You of all people know that all too well.”

“Popularity aside, it confused us, too. Even if they didn’t like Magistrate Lek, I don’t know of any anarchist groups that don’t like the Resistance,” Jess said. “And then, right before they flew back into the IMX, they shouted that they stand with the First Order.” 

Organa inhaled sharply. “The First Order.”

“We don’t know if they’re actually connected though,” Poe said quickly. 

“And we might never know,” Jess sighed. “They didn’t say anything else before the detonators took out the core.”

“What do you mean that we don’t know if they were connected to the Order?” Organa asked.

“We mean that they weren’t the brightest individuals we’ve ever gone up against,” Poe said. “And we’re not sold on them actually being connected to the First Order so much as knowing that the name would put us on edge.” 

Organa considered the information. “What about Lieutenant Lek?” she asked, changing the subject. “Will he be alright?” 

“As far as we know, yes,” Jess said. “Last I saw, Kalonia had him on the way to the medbay. She’ll make the final call, but Finn said he was OK in the field and Iolo kept a good watch on him the whole way home.” 

“That’s good to hear,” Organa sighed. “Your outing did a number on our fuel reserves.” 

“We know. But I promise, it was all necessary,” Poe said. “No joy-riding.” 

“I believe you, Commander,” Organa said. “But it does put us in an uncomfortable position.” 

“But it was worth it—we got Niv back,” Jess reasoned. She could feel her exhaustion affecting her responses. “And the Leks offered to finance our mission.”

“I don’t disagree that it was worth it, Captain,” Organa said calmly. “And I’m aware of the Lek’s offer. I’ve spoken with Lita and they are willing to replace the fuel, but it will take time to get the supplies here without drawing the attention of the First Order, and until then…we’re stuck,” Organa said. “Don’t misunderstand—I’d send you again without a moment’s hesitation. But it does put the danger of our situation at the front of mind. Especially since it’s likely that word of your escapades will reach the First Order.” 

“Do you think we’ll need to move?” Jess asked.

“Soon, yes. Hopefully not before the replacement fuel reserve gets in,” Organa said. Otherwise, it could be bad.”

Poe hesitated before speaking. “General, I know that fuel is short and that this is the worst possible time for me to ask this, but in the morning, I’d like to send Snap and Karé back to Vestar.”

“I need a why, Commander,” Organa said. 

“We set them up for a rebellion with no back-up, no air support, and an extremely limited arsenal. I think we’d all feel better if we knew that they were alright,” Poe explained. He gave her a lopsided grin. “It’s what the Resistance does.” 

Organa nodded slowly. “They’ll have to fly light, but…I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you, General,” Poe said. 

“Is there anything else?” Organa sighed. “Any other rebellions you started in the last twenty-four hours?” 

“No, General,” Jess said with a tired grin. “Just the one.” 

“Good,” Organa said. “Now, both of you: go get some sleep. You look dead on your feet.” 

“Yes, Ma’am,” Poe said.

“You’ve got it, General,” Jess agreed. “Sleep sounds amazing.” 

“Good work today. You’re dismissed,” Organa said. 

The two pilots had turned towards the door to leave when Organa spoke again. “Oh, Captain Pava,” she said.

“Yes, General?” Jess said, turning back towards Organa.

“That young man from Fest—”

“Darban?”

“Yes, Darban. Will you let him know that it looks like we will be sending a ship out towards the Atrivis sector within the next week? They would be able to take him home to Fest.”

“That’s good news. I’ll let him know,” Jess said.

“Thank you, Captain. Good night,” Organa said and looked back to her desk.

“Good night,” Jess replied and followed Poe out of Organa’s office.

“Does she sleep?” Jess asked once the door closed behind them.

“Maybe,” Poe yawned. “I don’t think I’ve seen it happen, though.”

Jess chuckled. “Good night, Boss.” She turned towards the mess.

“Hey—your room is this way,” Poe said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know. But I told Darban I’d meet him in the mess,” Jess said. “You’re not getting any food?”

“I’m so exhausted, I don’t know if I can chew right now,” Poe laughed before looking at Jess seriously. “Don’t you dare get caf,” he warned her.

Jess smiled tiredly. “For once, I don’t even want it.”

“Mustafar has frozen over,” Poe teased. Jess rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll see you in the morning. First meal at 0730?” 

“That early?” Jess groaned.

“Fine, fine. 0800,” he grinned. 

Jess rolled her eyes again. “Sleep well, Commander,” she said and waved as he disappeared down the hallway toward their rooms. She yawned and scrunched up her face before continuing down the hall and into the mess.

Only a handful of people were still awake, making it easy to locate Darban.

“Hey. How you doing?” Jess asked, sitting down next to the young man. 

“I’m fine,” he said automatically.

“You don’t have to say that anymore, you know,” Jess said. “No one expects that from you. You can tell me how you’re really doing.” 

“I know,” Darban said. “It’s still a reflex. I’m…I’m ok.”

“Just ok?” Jess asked.

“I think I’m processing that mission. I hadn’t seen anyone work together like you all did out there before this trip. It was new to me.”

Jess chuckled. “You mean that we bicker like children and play stupid games to pass the time?” 

Darban smiled. “You disagree, yes, but for a reason. And you listen to each other. I’ve never seen people act like that towards each other. At least, not that I remember.” 

“That is maybe the nicest way anyone has ever described us,” Jess grinned. “Glad we didn’t scare you too badly.”

“I didn’t say that Karé’s _Soup, Salad, Sandwich_ game didn’t scare me,” Darban said with a sly grin.

“Oh, now you’re funny,” Jess chuckled.

“How are you?” Darban asked.

“Exhausted,” Jess said, “but good. I’m glad we got Niv home.”

“I’m glad you got your friend back, too.” Darban gave a half-smile. 

“But…” Jess pressed.

“But,” Darban hesitated. “I…I guess I just hoped that we would find Fallor, as well.”

“For revenge?” Jess asked.

“No? I don’t think so. Maybe. I don’t know.” Darban paused and considered her question for a moment. “Not for revenge…for justice,” he said confidently. “And it would be nice to know he’s not out there doing what he did to me to someone else.” 

“We’re not giving up on finding him,” Jess said. “And now we know to look for him.” 

“I suppose,” Darban said. 

Jess sighed and tried to change the subject. “So Organa said that she thinks we’ll be sending a ship out by Fest soon. They can take you home.” 

“Home,” Darban whispered. “To be honest, I don’t know if Fest is my home anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Jess asked. “Thinking of staying with us?”

“Maybe,” Darban shrugged. “I guess I don’t really know where home is anymore. I’ve been away from Fest for longer than I lived there. And most of my family was taken in the Siege: my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Everyone. And those who weren’t taken...” he cleared his throat. “I had a little brother, Jorde, and a little sister, Isi. They both died that night.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Jess said quietly. “I didn’t know.” 

“Why would you?” Darban asked. “I didn’t tell you.” 

“Yeah, but I’m surprised I didn’t figure it out. I know what it’s like to lose a sibling.”

Darban furrowed his brow. “You do?” 

Jess nodded. “I had a sister, too. She was older than me.”

“What was her name?” 

“Evatt, but I called her EV,” Jess said. “She was three years older than me when we were taken.” 

“I’m sorry. Do you know what happened to her?” Darban asked. 

Jess shook her head. “No. In some ways, I wish I knew that she was dead. That probably sounds terrible, but not knowing—”

“You imagine the worst,” Darban finished for her. “I know. I do the same thing.” 

“Do you know about anyone from your family?”

Darban shook his head. “No. Iolo told me on the shuttle ride back that there were ways to search, but…” he sighed. “Maybe not knowing is better?”

Jess nodded. She didn’t know the last time she’d spoken to someone who really understood what it was like to not know where your family was. To almost hope that they were dead. 

“So you really don’t have anyone left on Fest?” Jess asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe a cousin or an aunt survived,” Darban shrugged. “But… no matter who survived, the First Order destroyed my family.”

Jess chewed on her lip. “I wish I’d met you before Hosnian Prime was destroyed,” she said.

“Why?”

“There used to be this group that I volunteered with there. Their mission was to reunite families that had been torn apart by the Empire or the slave trade. Keel ran it and they were fantastic.” Jess smiled sadly at the memory of her friend. “I miss Keel. They died during the cataclysm last year.”

“I’m sorry,” Darban said.

“Me, too. They were one of the best beings I’ve ever known. And they were incredible at finding people. If you came to them with a clue, they searched the galaxy to find an answer. And they usually found one. It wasn’t always good news, but it was an answer, which is better than an unknown.”

“Did they find _you_ an answer?” Darban asked.

Jess shook her head. “Keel tried, but…all the leads we ever found about my family led to nowhere. Doesn’t matter, though. I know that the First Order killed my dad,” Jess said quietly. She huffed a humorless laugh. “I don’t say that out loud very often, but it’s true.” 

“I’m sorry,” Darban said. “How do you know?”

“Their General told me,” Jess said. “How absurd is that? He just…told me that my father was forced to be a part of building a new Star Destroyer. He said that there was a breach in the hull and my father was sucked out. Said it like we were discussing the weather or something,” she scoffed to try and hide the shakiness in her voice. “I did some research on ship construction later—if they had been building using basic safety standards, it never would have happened. He was there and he is dead because they made it that way.”

“How long ago did you find out?” 

“Five years,” Jess said. “Maybe not knowing was better. At least I had hope that I’d see him again. But then again, I’d be imagining all of the terrible things that could be happening to him if I didn’t know. So…it’s just a no-win situation, isn’t it?” 

“It is,” Darban agreed. “Do you believe in an afterlife?” he asked suddenly.

“I don’t know,” Jess said with a yawn. “Maybe. Do you?”

“Yes,” Darban nodded. “I was raised in the Teratic Tradition.”

“That’s a branch of the Church of the Force, isn’t it?” Jess asked.

Darban nodded. “I don’t remember a lot of it—I haven’t been to a ceremony in years, but I remember that I was taught that when we die, we become one with the Force and one with all those who went before us and all those who will come after us. I suppose I find it comforting to believe that when I die, I will be with my family again—both those who have passed and those who have not yet completed their earthly journey.”

“That’s really beautiful,” Jess said quietly. “So many traditions preach a perfect afterlife, but…it’s hard to see that. But being one with those who came before and those who will follow? I really like that.” 

“It also means that I believe that your father, having completed his journey, is now one with you,” Darban said. “And that means that you are not alone.” 

Jess could tell her exhaustion was reaching an extreme when she could feel tears prickling her eyes. She tried to discreetly wipe them away, but when Darban put his hand on her shoulder, she knew he’d noticed. “Thank you for saying that,” she whispered.

“Pava, it’s late. Go to bed,” Karé said as she and Snap walked past them, their arms wrapped around each other. “You too, Darban.”

Jess forced a smile and rolled her eyes at her friend. 

“Yes, mom,” she called after her fellow pilot. Karé didn’t turn around, opting instead to flip Jess off over her shoulder. Jess chuckled. “She’s right. Come on, let’s go to bed.” 

Jess and Darban walked silently down the hall to Darban’s quarters. 

“Thank you,” Darban said when they’d almost reached his door.

“For what?” Jess asked.

“I know you were part of why General Organa removed me from Apparatchik Fallor’s custody. But also for welcoming me here—to the Resistance. For bringing me on the mission. For telling me your story and hearing mine. For all of it. It’s…it’s been a very long time since I’ve talked to someone who truly understands.” 

“Any time, Darban. It’s been a long time for me, too. Good night,” Jess waved tiredly as his door slid shut. She turned down the hall back to her quarters and keyed herself into her room. In a daze, she took a shower and changed into clean sleep clothes. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. 

* * *

Poe tossed and turned all night. It wasn’t exactly unusual for him at this point: no matter how exhausted he was, he often slept poorly the first night home from a mission with lingering nerves and residual adrenaline still coursing through his system. After Crait, it had only gotten worse. Usually, he was able to get a few scattered hours of sleep throughout the night. This time, though, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t stop his mind from racing and puzzling over all of the mismatched pieces of the last few days. Something about it was still bugging him—something that he felt was staring him right in the face, but he just couldn’t see it.

“How could he know? There wasn’t _time_. It doesn’t make sense,” Poe whispered aloud to himself. He paused. “It doesn’t make sense,” he repeated again slowly. He scrambled out of his bed and tripped over his boots on his way to his desk.

“Ow,” he huffed from the floor.

The commotion roused BB-8, who let out an indignant stream of binary.

“I know, I know. Sorry buddy. Lights to 40%,” he muttered as he pushed himself up. Once he was seated at his desk, he pulled his datapad and stylus towards him and wrote out each detail that he could remember from the past few days and how much lead time he thought each event would need. Each question he had was written in the margins and circled.

**_How did Fallor know about Corulag?_ **

**_What alerted Fallor to their approach?_ **

**_Who told him to abandon the IMX-120?_ **

**_When was he contacted?_ **

**_Was Mindar involved?_ **

Writing it all out gave Poe a clearer picture of what he was working with, but there were still too many unknowns. One of them he could fill in easily. He pulled on a flight suit and his boots and made his way back to the hangar.

“Hey Dameron,” one of the techs greeted. He nodded towards the orange flight suit. “Going somewhere?”

“Na. Just don’t have anything else that’s clean,” Poe said. “Have you done a wipe on the new freighter yet?”

“The one from Mindar? No,” the tech said. “We scanned it, processed all of the contraband he was smuggling, and checked it for anything that could be tracked, but we haven’t wiped it yet. The databanks are pretty extensive and we wanted to give the General a chance to look over the data before we deleted it.”

“Mind if I check it out?” Poe asked.

“Have at it.” The tech gestured towards the freighter. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” Poe gave a tired smile and crossed the hangar. He walked up the ramp and dropped heavily into the pilot’s seat.

“Alright…let’s see what you can tell me,” he said and pulled up the comm records.

Poe frowned. The most recent message had been sent over a day before Black Squadron had found Mindar. Nothing else was in the records. He checked for any deleted comms, but there wasn’t anything there.

“What the hell?” Poe muttered. He checked the entire cockpit for a secondary transmitter, but couldn’t find anything. Poe sighed: Mindar hadn’t contacted Fallor.

But if not Mindar, who had contacted Fallor? How had he known to abandon the IMX-120?

Poe wandered down the ramp and back to his room. He sat down heavily at his desk and added one more question to his file:

**_Who helped Fallor?_ **

Poe sat back and stared at the words on his datapad, a sinking feeling in his chest. Before he realized it, the dark grey of night out his window had turned into the pale grey of day. He sighed and was about to abandon the datapad when a terrible realization came to him. “This doesn’t work without—”

The blaring alarm chrono startled him. He reached over and turned it off.

“Ugh.” Poe scrubbed his hand over his face and quickly got dressed. If he hurried, he could beat Jess to the mess and pull her away before anyone noticed. He raced out of his room and through the halls, coming to a stop outside of the mess. It was 0757, and he knew from years of experience that Jess would show up at the last moment to meet him for first meal.

Two minutes later, she rounded the corner towards the mess, her expression more asleep than awake.

“Morning, Boss,” Jess yawned. She paused and looked him up and down, obviously taking in his disheveled appearance. “I was gonna ask if you slept ok, but I think a better question is: did you sleep at all?” 

“Come with me,” Poe said tersely and took her hand. 

“What is it?” she asked, suddenly fully awake. “Where are we going?”

“Outside,” he said and nodded towards a door that led to a balcony. Jess followed him out into the steamy cold. 

“What’s up, Poe?” Jess said, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. “Why are we out here?”

Poe paced back and forth before turning to face Jess. “I figured it out.” 

“Figured what out?” Jess asked bewilderedly.

“I figured out what’s been bugging me since yesterday,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Not sure I follow. What do you mean?” Jess asked.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“You said that. Care to share some details?” Jess asked.

Poe handed her his datapad. He watched her intently until she started scrolling. “First off, the timeline is skewed,” he started. “How did Fallor know when to rabbit from that ship? The log shows that he left the ship hours before we were within range. And Iolo did the math. With the amount of fuel he burned—it was obvious that he was running. He knew we were after him. So how did he know we were coming?” 

Jess frowned and looked out over the rocky plain. “I…I don’t know, but I don’t think I like where you’re going with this.” Her gaze suddenly snapped back to him. “Do you think our ships were tracked?”

“No,” Poe shook his head. “After the whole thing with Oddy Muva, we all check our ships too carefully.”

“Good. So…what do you think happened? Jess asked, gesturing to the datapad.

“At first I thought that maybe Mindar had warned him somehow, but I checked his comms and he hadn’t sent anything out in over a day before we captured him. Not that he had the capacity to, either. But then I realized it couldn’t have been him because it starts before that. So then for about a quarter of a second, I thought maybe Darban was in on it, but dismissed that because he didn’t have the clearance to get into any of our systems and he wasn’t ever alone long enough to do anything—”

“You’re forgetting to ask _why_ would he help Fallor?” Jess interrupted him.

“But that’s not the only reason I dismissed him,” Poe continued on, ignoring Jess’s interruption. I dismissed him because it goes _deeper_ than that,” he paused to catch his breath and let his voice catch up with his racing mind. “How did Fallor know that Corulag is one of our major trading partners? And how did he know that it would be Lek in that X-Wing? It could have just as easily been you or Snap or Rik Saren. And no offense, but none of you would have given him the kind of leverage that Lek did.” 

Jess chewed her lip nervously, her brow furrowed in concentration. “What are you saying?”

Poe took a steadying breath and met Jess’s gaze. “Last night you said that you didn’t think there was a plot or something. You said you thought it was just that Fallor got lucky. And I agreed. But now…I’m not so sure. What if we were wrong? What if someone is feeding Fallor information? Helping him?” 

“You’re saying that it doesn’t make sense…without a mole,” Jess finished his assertion in a horrified whisper.

“Jess,” Poe stepped closer to Jess and spoke so softly, he could barely hear himself. “The only people who have tracking on our ships are here on this base.”

Poe could see the look of realization on Jess’s face as something snapped into place in her mind. “Poe, why did you send Lek and not someone else? Why _not_ me?” 

He raised an incredulous eyebrow. “I’m sorry…are you _jealous_?” 

“No. Not at all. But…what made you put Niv in that cockpit?” Jess asked. 

“Um…” Poe hesitated. _Why had he sent Niv out?_ “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess it had been a while since he’d been out.” 

“It’d been a while for all of us—everyone except you and Iolo,” Jess argued. “Who knew about the mission?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Because of what you just said. You’re right: the timeline doesn’t make sense,” Jess said. “Not unless Fallor had someone who gave him previous knowledge of when Lek was going where. Someone who knew where we were and when we were getting close. Someone on the inside—feeding him our intel. So who knew?” 

“Just Organa, Suralinda, and me until I told Niv. And I’d assume he told you?” Poe said. Realization made him pause. “And Erach knew,” he whispered.

“Vice-Admiral Erach?” Jess repeated. 

“Erach is the one who suggested I send Lek,” Poe said, his head was spinning. “You don’t think…” he stopped himself before he could finish the accusation on his lips.

“I know what you’re about to say. And I’m with you,” Jess hesitated. “Even if it means treason.” 

Poe huffed a laugh. “I don’t think we’re the ones who need to worry about treason here, Testor.” He sighed and took a step back, turning to look over the rocky plains. “So you think Erach might be on Fallor’s payroll?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Did you know him in the NRDF?” Jess asked, stepping up next to him. 

“No,” Poe shook his head. “I knew of him, but I never crossed paths with him. Did you?” 

“Me either.” Jess looked around. “Do you know if anyone here worked with him in the NRDF?” 

“Not that I know of,” Poe said. “Everything I ever heard about him in the Fleet was positive: he was a good Commanding Officer and an all-around good guy. He was no Antilles in the cockpit, but he was skilled enough.”

“He was good enough to stay alive,” Jess said. “But based on what you know, this doesn’t sound like him.” 

“No, but…war makes people do crazy things,” Poe said. “I mean, think about it: if he was stationed on Hosnian Prime and was off-planet for whatever reason, no matter how small—the guilt of being alive when he thought he should have been dead could be enough to drive him away from his morals.” 

“You think that Survivor’s Guilt made him do this?” Jess asked skeptically. “Made him abandon the NRDF Code? I don’t buy it. Survivor’s Guilt is more likely to galvanize him to a cause or push him to suicide than it is to turn him against us.”

“I agree. But maybe the Survivor’s Guilt pushed him towards drinking or spice or any number of other vices and from there, it was a slippery slope until he hit rock bottom and got connected with Fallor and…I don’t know,” Poe shrugged. “I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter why he did it. Survivor’s Guilt, moral crisis, credits—it doesn’t matter. If he sold us out to Fallor, he’s a traitor. He sold Niv out. There’s no way around it—other than Organa, Suralinda, or myself, he’s the only one who had the access and intel necessary to orchestrate this.”

Jess chewed on her lip for a moment. “I wanna go after Fallor.” 

Poe hesitated but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to anger Jess if he could avoid it.

“Don’t do that.” Jess stepped in front of him and held his gaze. “We just talked about this. Tell me what you’re thinking,” she hissed. 

“How personal is it?” Poe asked. “With Darban and your history…how personal is going after Fallor?”

“It’s personal,” Jess said. “But not for the reasons you think it is.”

“Then why?” Poe asked. 

“Because he came after us in our own base—our home. He planted a mole to harm us. He came after my friend’s family to advance his own wealth. He hurt one of my friends and tried to hurt more of them. He came to a place that was ours and made it unsafe for us. And I’m not going to let that stand,” Jess growled.

Poe considered for a moment before he nodded. “Ask Organa, but you have my support to go.”

“Thank you,” Jess said and turned to leave. 

Poe caught her hand. “Jess—be careful,” he said.

“Always am,” she grinned. 

“No, I mean it—you have to come home from this.” He paused. “I can’t put your name on that list.” 

Poe froze. He hadn’t meant to say that…not right now. But now it was out there and he couldn’t take it back.

Jess nodded. “I know. I can’t put your name on that list, either. I’ll be back, though. I promise.” 

Poe squeezed her hand. “Go.” 

Jess grinned and ran off to find the General.

* * *

Jess stopped by her quarters to change clothes and was in her flight suit when she found Organa outside of Niv’s room in the medbay. 

“How is he?” Jess asked. 

“Not sure yet. He hasn’t woken up, but Dr. Kalonia is hopeful. She thinks you made it in time,” Organa said, staring through the observation window. Niv was unconscious in the bed with his parents on either side of him, holding his hands and talking to him quietly. Iolo sat in a chair at the foot of his bed, keeping watch over his friend. 

“I hope we did,” Jess said softly as she looked through the observation window. “It’s too soon to lose someone else. We weren’t gonna let him go easily.” 

“Thank you for that,” Organa said quietly. “For not giving up on him. Lita has been my friend for many years. If I was the reason she lost her son…”

“It was my honor, General,” Jess replied. "He didn’t deserve this.” 

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Organa said quietly. 

Jess sighed. “General…I think that we both know that’s a lie. This was premeditated.”

“Pava—” Organa began.

“General,” Jess interrupted her. She glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear what she was about to say. “I—we,” she corrected herself, “we believe we have a traitor in our midst.” 

Organa looked sharply at Jess. “Who?”

“Poe’s working on it. But while he is chasing this end of the snake, I want to go after the other. Vic Fallor tortured and committed war crimes against a peaceful population. He attempted to extort the Magistrate and took one of our own as a captive to do it. He might not be First Order _yet,_ but he’s well on his way to joining them. He is a threat, and I know you can see that. And I know you can’t afford to send a squadron. I know we don’t have the fuel. But I’m asking you: can I have permission to go after him?” Jess said, fire flashing in her eyes. “Poe said he’ll sign off on it and it would just be me and my X-Wing and—"

“No.”

Jess stopped, dumbfounded. “But General—”

“You’re not going. Not without backup,” Organa said, looking over at Jess. The pilot could practically see the gears turning in the General’s mind. “Has Mindar’s shuttle been assessed yet?” 

“I don’t know,” Jess said. “I think it was last night, but if it wasn’t, we can make it happen now.” 

“Make sure it’s safe and untraceable. Then find Finn and you two go after Fallor,” Organa ordered. “Go.” 

“Yes, General,” Jess said with a salute and started jogging back to the hangar. 

“And Pava?”

Jess turned around but kept walking backward. “Yes?” 

“Capture if you can, but if you can’t…I want you to take him out with extreme prejudice. Am I understood?” Organa said, her voice low and dangerous.

Jess smirked— _that_ was Leia Organa: the General that people had followed through two wars. The General that _she_ herself would follow across the galaxy.

“Perfectly.” 

“May the Force be with you,” Organa said.

Jess saluted once more and turned to run to the hangar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that meme from "It's Always Sunny..." where he's trying to explain a conspiracy theory? 
> 
> (This one: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-silvia)
> 
> That's the energy I'm imagining Jess was getting from sleep-deprived Poe, but Poe was actually right. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting/kudos-ing/bookmarking! Highlight of my day to get those emails. :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

“So let me get this straight: you and Poe think that all of this was planned? That someone in the Resistance sold Niv and us out to Fallor?” Finn asked from the copilot’s seat.

“Oversimplified, but basically, yes,” Jess said as she piloted the ship away from Hypori. 

“And you think it was Vice-Admiral Erach?”

“ _Is._ Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because no one else has that kind of access other than Poe or Organa and I don’t really see either of them betraying the Resistance.” 

“Damn.” 

“I’ll say,” Jess agreed. “Poe’s working on proving it. I wanted to take care of this loose end, though.” 

“I have to ask: is Organa aware that you’re going after him? And that I’m with you?”

“Please. She _told_ me to bring you. I asked for permission to go alone in my X-Wing, but she wouldn’t let me—said you had to come, too.” Jess smirked. “Did you think that I was going AWOL and taking you with me?”

“Based on some of the stories I’ve heard about you, it’s not an unreasonable question,” Finn teased. “And you aren’t worried about Erach telling Fallor that you’re coming after him?”

“No,” Jess shook her head. “The only people who know we left are Poe and the General. Plus, the General said she’d put the base on a communications blackout—nothing in or out, so even if he tries, firstly, it won’t get out, and secondly, they’ll have proof that he’s communicating with Fallor.” 

Finn nodded. “Makes sense. So what’s your plan?”

“First we need to find Fallor. Then…well, the plan is to either capture or kill depending on where he is.”

“That’s not much of a plan, Pava,” Finn said.

“It’s a work in progress.”

“And how do you suggest we find him?”

They had left the Hypori system and were headed out into deep space. Jess checked the sensors one more time before answering Finn. “I _think_ that Fallor will take a comm from this ship. If he thinks that Mindar is about to sell him out to the Resistance, I bet he’ll try to help—for his own preservation’s sake. If he doesn’t take the bait, we can trace the comm and follow it to him.” 

“You think he’ll take a call from us?” Finn asked. “Neither of us are Zeltronian or even close.” 

“We’re gonna do voice only,” Jess grinned. “And you’re gonna mimic him.” 

“Excuse me?” Finn raised an eyebrow.

“Your voice has a similar tone and pitch as Mindar's. And with comm distortion, Fallor won’t notice a difference. You can do it.”

“I didn’t hear him speak that much—I have no idea how he speaks.” 

“Long, drawn-out vowels, sloppy S-es, clipped P-sounds,” Jess rattled off. “Basically, talk like you’re high. You can do that.” 

“You seem to know what that sounds like, why don’t you do it?” 

“I don’t sound like Mindar,” Jess said. “Look—you’re our only shot at finding him.” 

“No pressure or anything,” Finn muttered. 

“I’ll give you a minute to get into character,” Jess smirked and turned back to the console. 

“This is the point when Poe mutters that he hates you, isn’t it?” Finn said.

“Yeah. But he usually doesn’t mean it,” Jess winked. 

“Ugh,” Finn groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. “Any chance there are any recordings of him?”

“Check the comms,” Jess replied as she piloted the shuttle away from the Ferra sector. There had already been too many ships jumping near Hypori for anyone’s comfort—someone was bound to notice. With that caution in mind, Poe had suggested flying closer to Ryloth through realspace in an attempt to throw off any suspicion. So Jess was manually piloting them towards the Twi’lek homeworld to make the jump. Realspace didn’t offer the same relative safety that hyperspace did and required her total attention, which meant that she was only vaguely aware of Finn listening to and attempting to mimic the recordings of Mindar’s voice.

Finally, they reached the Gaulus sector. Jess let out a sigh—it wasn’t as dangerous as Hutt space, but the Outer Rim wasn’t without its threats—especially when they were far from any major trade routes or Resistance-friendly planets.

“Alright, we’re getting close to Ryloth. Ready to contact Fallor?” Jess asked.

Finn groaned. “As ready as I’m gonna be.”

“You’re gonna be great,” Jess said as she prepared the comm. “Remember, the Resistance took out your camera, so voice only.”

“I know, I know,” Finn said. He slouched low in his seat and kicked his feet up on the console. 

“What are you doing?” Jess laughed. 

“Getting into character,” Finn replied, his voice a very close impersonation of Mindar’s. He cleared his throat and wiggled further down in the seat. “Ok, I’m ready.”

“Alright…connecting…and…” Jess connected the call and went silent. She pointed at Finn to let him know he was live.

 _“I told you never to contact me. As per our arrangement: I contact you,”_ Fallor said over the comm.

“Oh, come on now Vic,” Finn said. “You take care of me, don’t you?”

Fallor chuckled. _“Out of spice already, are you, Bicol?”_

“Nooo,” Finn drew out the vowel. “I just thought our relationship meant something to you.”

_“Our relationship is purely transactional, Mindar. I got what I needed from you and you got what you needed from me. As far as I’m concerned, our collaboration is done.”_

“Don’t be like that, my friend,” Finn said, stretching out the vowels like Mindar did. “But I need your help.”

 _“What’s wrong with your transmitter?”_ Fallor asked.

“That’s why I need your help. You didn’t tell me that the Resistance would come after me for helping you.”

_“The Resistance found you?”_

“That’s what I just said! They took out my video transmitter when they attacked—I barely have audio.” 

_“Those blasted rebel scum,”_ Fallor spat. He sighed. _“Where are you now? Does the Resistance have you?”_

“No. I managed to get away from them—but just barely. What’s interesting, though, is that it seemed like they were far more interested in finding you than jamming me up,” Finn said. 

_“In me?”_ Fallor suddenly sounded nervous.

“We got ‘em,” Jess whispered.

 _“What was that?”_ Fallor demanded.

“Holovid,” Finn said quickly. “You’d like it—there’s these two Zabrak wom—”

 _“I do not need to know about your depravity,”_ Fallor replied sharply. 

“Loooook,” Finn said, drawing out the ‘O’ like he’d heard Mindar do, “you have to help me, yeah? Cause if the Resistance finds me…finds this ship…they’ll find yoo-oou.” 

_“Are you threatening me?”_

“No, no,” Finn said lazily. “Not _threatening_. Warning. It’s different.” 

Fallor sighed. _“I’ll send you coordinates. Be certain you are not followed.”_

“Knew you’d take care of me. Didn’t I say it? I said ‘you always take care of me’, and you did,” Finn said, rambling like Mindar’s recordings. The nav computer pinged with the arrival of the coordinates from Fallor. “I got the coordinates. But…how will I know it’s you?” 

Fallor chuckled darkly. _“Oh, trust me, you’ll know.”_ He ended the transmission.

Finn waited until Jess signaled to him that she’d cut off their end of the comm before he sat back up and groaned.

“I hated that,” Finn muttered. 

“You did a great job,” Jess said. “Totally sounded like Mindar.” 

“Not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” Finn said. “So where are we headed?” 

“Back into Wild Space,” Jess replied as she input the coordinates into the computer to calculate the jump. She frowned. “We’re going near Bakura,” she said softly. 

“Is that a bad thing?” Finn asked.

“Not necessarily _bad_ ,” Jess shook her head. “More like…good to be aware of. Captain Doza—from Jade Squadron? She faced off against the First Order near Bakura before.” 

“So there’s a known First Order presence?” 

“Yeah,” Jess said. “Or, well, there _was_. I don’t know if there still is or not. Doza’s incident with them was a few years ago.” The nav computer beeped, letting her know that the jump was calculated. Jess looked at the jump coordinates and groaned. 

“What is it?”

“It’s a long jump,” she replied. “4 jumps, technically. But we have the benefit of using Mindar’s ship, so we can use major hyperlanes.” 

“Small favors,” Finn muttered. “Alright—let’s go fly into an area with a known First Order presence armed with just this ship and your bad attitude.” 

Jess raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

“Me? I have a sunny disposition at all times,” Finn grinned and leaned back in the copilot’s seat. 

Jess huffed a laugh. “Whatever, Troopa. Get ready to jump.” 

* * *

A few hours later, Jess dropped the ship out of hyperspace at the coordinates that Fallor had sent. 

“What do you think he meant by ‘you’ll know’ it’s him?” Jess said.

“Um,” Finn pointed to the port side of the ship. “I think that’s what he meant.” 

“What is that?” Jess asked. “It looks Empire-era.” 

“It is. It’s an Empire _Tartan-_ ClassPatrol cruiser. The First Order reclaimed and reserviced a few of them from some of the scrap fields,” Finn said. 

“Alright, let’s put that First Order education to work: what can you tell me about that ship?” 

“ _Tartan’s_ can carry 70 crew and up to 50 passengers. They have a decent hyperdrive and twenty laser cannons. No missiles, ion cannons, or turbolasers, though,” Finn reported. “They usually have a complement of TIEs on them, but no more than twelve. It’s not the most impressive ship in the fleet, but not one to discount either.” 

“So at most, we’re talking about 120 people on board?” 

“At most,” Finn agreed. “But if Fallor was able to run to them, I’d guess they’re running short-staffed. They won’t cut down that much, but they’ll double up where they can. So…maybe sixty troopers on board?” 

“That’s still a lot for this ship, a bad attitude, and a sunny disposition to take care of,” Jess said. 

Finn grinned. “The good thing is that these ships are pretty segmented. We’ll likely be able to divide and conquer. Kind of…break it up into manageable chunks, if you will.” 

Jess sighed. “The one other thing we have going for us is they’re expecting an ally, not an assault.” 

A beep came from the comm.

“They’re hailing us,” Jess said. “Are you ready?”

Finn nodded. Jess flipped the comm on and gave a quick nod.

 _“Unidentified vessel, this is the Abaddon—state your name and purpose,”_ a clipped voice ordered.

“Hello, I am Horacio Bicol Luca Mindar Senior and this is my ship, the _Jeweled Empress.”_

_“State your purpose, Jeweled Empress,”_ the comm officer said.

“Of course. I’m here to see Apparatchik Vic Fallor,” Finn said into the comm. “He told me to come.” 

_“He does not have the authority to give you clearance to board this vessel,”_ the clipped voice said. 

“I’m not trying to be difficult, but he said I could be here. So…” Finn said. 

_“You do not have clearance,”_ the voice said again. 

“Right, right. You said that and I heard you. But I told Fallor that if the Resistance finds me…well then…they’ll just get to find you, too,” Finn said in a thinly veiled threat. 

The comm was silent. 

“Hello?” Finn asked. 

_“You may land your shuttle in the docking bay. Remain on board until an Officer comes to escort you to Fallor’s quarters,”_ the comm officer said.

“Those are the sweetest words I’ve heard in a long time,” Finn repeated one of the phrases he’d heard Mindar use on the recordings. 

_“You are alone, I presume?”_

“Yes. All alone. Just me and my ship to pass the lonely nights. The uncountable nights since I last felt a woman’s embrace,” Finn said and winked at Jess. Jess rolled her eyes.

 _“You’re cleared to land,”_ the voice replied and abruptly cut off the channel. 

“I can’t believe Snap told you about that,” Jess muttered once the comm had been closed. 

“You’ve gotta admit: it’s pretty funny.” 

“Maybe,” Jess allowed. The console in front of her pinged when the clearance code went through and they were allowed to approach the cruiser. Jess clenched her jaw as anger coursed through her system.

“Where’s your head, Pava?” Finn asked. 

“Poe tell you to check up on me?” Jess replied tightly.

“No. I can just tell something’s up.”

She sighed. “It’s just…of course he ran to the First Order,” Jess muttered as she piloted the ship towards the docking bay. “Of fucking course he did.”

“No, it’s a good thing,” Finn said, watching as the cruiser in front of them grew larger and larger. 

Jess turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “And why is that?”

Finn shrugged. “It’ll be easier to find a disguise which will make it easier to get close to Fallor.” He smirked. “And no one can say he’s not an enemy anymore. He’s involved with the First Order—we’ve witnessed it.” 

Jess gave a non-committal ‘hmm’ as she steered the ship into the landing bay. 

“Ok, Finn—we’re firmly in your territory now,” Jess said as she set the ship down. “What’s the plan?”

“You were gonna come here with an X-Wing and no plan?” Finn asked incredulously. 

“I was going to go with the ‘blow something up’ plan,” Jess shrugged. “Landing wasn’t even on my radar.” 

Finn rolled his eyes at Jess before he leaned forward and looked around the hangar. Fallor’s ship was docked nearby as was a small TIE Fighter complement, but the hanger was otherwise abandoned. 

“Ok, good news. I think we arrived during third-shift, which means most of the crew will be asleep—no techs to worry about on the hangar floor. Plus, there isn’t a command lounge overlooking the hangar, so it’s only monitored by cameras. You see them?” Finn said, pointing towards the swivel-mounted cameras in the corners of the hangar.

“Yeah. Do we need to shoot them down?” Jess asked.

“No, that’ll draw attention. But if I can time it to run over to that console and get into the security feed, I think I can loop it.” 

“More First Order education?” Jess asked.

“Nah. Learned that from Niv,” Finn grinned. “I’ll have about 20 seconds to get over there and then will have to hide until it sweeps back. Then I’ll have to work in 20-second increments to loop the feed.”

“Will that be enough?” 

“Sure hope so,” Finn said and shrugged off his leather jacket. He lowered the ramp and waited. “Watch that camera for me. When it starts to move to the right, tell me. I’m gonna have to hunker down while it swivels to the left, and then I’ll need you to tell me when it gets to about the midway point on each sweep.” 

“Copy that,” Jess said, turning her focus to the camera. It finished its sweep of the hangar, paused for a second, and began to swivel back to the right. “Now.” 

Finn sprinted across the hangar floor, dodging tool carts and fuel hoses left on the ground. Jess’s attention was split between watching Finn run and watching the camera’s slow pan to the right. She could feel the tension building in her shoulders. When the camera hit its farthest point it paused briefly while the gears shifted before it started its sweep back across the hangar. 

“Finn, it’s coming back,” Jess hissed into her comm. The former Stormtrooper dropped to his knees and slid himself as far under the workstation as he could manage. 

Jess watched closely as the camera reached the midpoint of its cycle. “You’re good,” she breathed.

“Tell me when it approaches the midpoint again,” Finn said as he scrambled out from underneath the workstation and started to work on the computer. He was too far away for Jess to be able to see what he was doing, but she trusted that he knew what systems he needed to get into. She watched as the camera hit its maximum point and began to move back to the right again.

Jess raised her comm to her mouth. “it’s coming back.” 

Finn dropped back under the workstation and waited for Jess to tell him it was clear.

They went through the cycle two more times before Finn stepped away from the console.

“It’s coming back,” Jess said. This time, Finn didn’t drop under the desk. “Did you get the security feed looped?” she asked, her breath tight in her chest.

“Yeah, I got it,” Finn said into his comm. “Apparently no one thought to delete my access codes.”

“Joke’s on them,” Jess muttered.

“Probably thought I was smart enough to never get back on board a First Order ship,” Finn said as he started to work on opening an access hatch. 

“Apparently they didn’t know you very well, did they?” Jess quipped. She watched with interest—trying to guess what Finn was doing.

“Oh, no. They did—after Starkiller, you couldn’t have gotten me back on one of these for anything,” Finn said.

“But now?”

“Now? Let’s just say I have some pilot friends who are bad influences when it comes to things like self-preservation,” Finn teased. The hatch opened and revealed an access ladder. “Stay there, I’ll be back soon.” 

“What are you doing?” Jess hissed. 

“No cameras in the access tubes,” Finn replied shortly. 

“That’s not what I meant,” Jess groaned. “Where are you going?” 

“To find a Stormtrooper,” Finn replied like it was the most obvious thing ever before he disappeared through the open panel.

It wasn’t long before Finn reemerged from the access tube _,_ hauling an unconscious Stormtrooper with him. He dragged the prone figure across the floor and up the ramp of the _Jeweled Empress._ Once the helmet was removed, he handed it to Jess and started methodically stripping the armor and bodyglove off of the unconscious Trooper, leaving him in only his undergarments. With the bodyglove now available, Finn took off his own clothes and pulled on the black garment.

“Now we need a disguise for you,” Finn said as he started putting the armor on.

“I can’t ask you to put this on,” Jess said, looking down at the helmet in her hands.

“It’s just armor, Jess—it means nothing,” Finn said calmly. “And I’m not exactly unknown by the First Order. You, though—let’s see if we can get you a promotion.” Finn grinned and took the helmet from her. “I’ll be right back,” he said and stepped out of the ship. 

Finn returned less than five minutes later, carrying an officer that was about the same size as Jess. 

“Corporal sound good?” Finn asked as he put the officer down.

“Sure,” Jess sighed and started removing the uniform. Finn turned around to give her some privacy. 

Once the uniform was on, Jess tapped Finn on the shoulder. “How do I look?” she asked.

Finn looked her up and down before pulling the hat lower on her head and pushing her shoulders back. “Now you look like you’re a part of the First Order.” 

“Gross.” 

Finn chuckled. “Don’t worry—it’s not a good look on you.” 

“Do you know where to go?” Jess asked. 

“Yeah, follow—”

The pneumatic door behind them hissed as it slid open. Jess and Finn both turned around, blasters drawn to see what had caused the door to activate. 

“Don’t shoot! It’s just me,” Darban said, his hands raised. 

“Kriff. Darban, what are you doing here?” Jess asked, lowering her blaster. “Did you sneak on the ship?” 

“I told you—I want to bring him to justice,” Darban said. 

Jess looked at Finn. “Thoughts?”

Finn looked Darban up and down. “I get where he’s coming from. And he could be helpful when it comes to what we should expect from Fallor. He’s too tall to be a Stormtrooper, but he won’t be recognizable by anyone except Fallor’s group, so maybe a tech? Jumpsuit or coverall?” 

“Can you get one?” Jess asked.

Finn put the helmet back on. “No problem. Stay on the ship, I’ll be right back,” he said and disappeared back down the ramp. 

“You shouldn’t have snuck on board,” Jess sighed after Finn left the ship.

“Would you have allowed me to come if I’d asked?” Darban asked.

“Probably not,” Jess admitted.

“And if you had the chance to bring your former master to justice, wouldn’t you have done the same thing?” he pressed on.

Jess’s mind flashed to one of the few clear memories she had from Ibanjji: she remembered standing on the lip of the canyon, leaning heavily on Poe, and Yashi holding out a remote detonator to her. She remembered grabbing that remote and slamming her thumb down on the button with all the force she could manage. And she remembered the satisfaction at hearing the explosion and seeing the orange flames and smelling the acrid smoke coming from the destroyed ship.

But she couldn’t tell Darban that when given the opportunity, she had blown up her former Master’s body and ship without a second thought—not when he was asking for justice instead of revenge.

“That’s not the point,” Jess argued weakly.

“No, it is the point. I have been told what to do every day of my life for the past eleven years and have been punished for every failure. That man has been in control of all of it since I was a child. And you know what that’s like. So yes, it is the point—I want to take back my own self, Jessika. Can’t you understand that?” 

Jess nodded. “Yeah, you’re right: I get it,” she whispered. “But this is dangerous. You could get hurt.” 

“I know the risks,” Darban replied.

“Do you? Because until we made the jump, _we_ didn’t know the risks, and this is our job. We had no idea that we were headed into First Order territory.”

“I’m not scared of the First Order,” Darban said.

“You should be,” Finn’s voice said as a Stormtrooper came up the ramp, a dark gray technician’s coverall over his arm. “They’re dangerous.” 

Jess frowned. “That was fast. Did you just leave some tech naked in the hall?” she asked. Finn tilted his head and Jess had to stop herself from grinning at the expression she assumed was on his face. 

“It was hanging just outside the maintenance bay, if you must know. Most techs just wear the coverall over their uniform,” Finn explained and held the coverall out to Darban. “Get dressed.”

Darban took the offered garment and pulled it on over his clothes. 

“Wrong shoes, but hopefully no one is looking at your feet,” Finn said. 

“So what’s the play?” Jess asked. 

“The two of us,” Finn said, gesturing to himself and Darban, “we’re basically invisible now in these uniforms. You, Corporal, are gonna be a bit more visible.” 

“This is a small ship—won’t someone realize I don’t belong?”

“Not likely. Most Troopers don’t look past the uniform,” Finn replied. 

“You said there was likely somewhere between 60 and 120 people on board. We can’t take that many out with just the two of us.”

“I can shoot,” Darban said.

“Excuse me—the three of us,” Jess corrected. 

“Have a blaster for him?” Finn asked.

“I’m sure Mindar has something,” Jess said. She kicked open one of the under-bench drawers and started digging through it until she found a blaster. After checking the charge, she handed it to Darban. “But even with three of us, the odds aren’t great.”

Finn considered their options for a moment. “I have an idea. Come on,” he said and motioned for them to follow him off the ship and towards the console. 

“What are you thinking?” Jess asked as she followed him across the hangar.

“Look—the First Order doesn’t protect their systems very well. They _know_ that none of their Troopers will betray them—they’re all too well indoctrinated—and they don’t think anyone’s stupid enough to try and get onto their ships in an attempt to hack into their programming.” 

“Cute how they underestimate our stupidity,” Jess said. “What’s the point?”

“Most, not all—but most, systems can be accessed from any terminal like this one,” Finn said as he pulled up a new window. “Including doors.”

Jess raised her eyebrows. “You’re suggesting we lock the doors—lock all of the Troopers in their barracks.” 

Finn shrugged. “Take the doors offline, at least. It won’t stop them forever, but it’ll stagger them—they’ll have to manually open every door.” 

“I like it. Do it,” Jess said. She looked around the hangar. “Let’s close the hangar blast doors, too—we don’t want to let Fallor get away with his ship.” 

“On it,” Finn said, his fingers flying over the keyboard. A few moments later, the doors at the end of the hangar slid closed. 

“You can re-open it, right? When we need to escape?” Jess asked.

“You probably should have asked that before I closed them,” Finn muttered. 

“Excuse me?” Jess said sharply.

“Of course I can,” Finn chuckled before he turned back to the screen. “Alright, the doors on the Trooper barracks level have all been taken offline. Come on.”

They walked to the hangar door, where Finn stopped them. “Jess, you need to be in front—you outrank us.” 

“I don’t know where I’m going,” Jess said. 

“I’ll tell you. You just need to act like you don’t care about anyone whose rank is below yours, alright?” Finn said.

“Right—cause that’ll come naturally to me,” Jess muttered.

“You had me impersonate Mindar,” Finn reminded her.

“So, what, this is payback?”

“No, this is a mission. Do your job,” Finn replied pointedly. 

“Fine. I’ll do it,” Jess groaned. “Where would they house visitors?”

“There’s a Dignitary Suite up near the bridge and captain’s quarters,” Finn said. “This way.” 

Finn muttered quiet directions to Jess as they made their way through the halls. They passed a few Troopers on patrol, but so far, none of them seemed to be aware of the invaders or of the sabotage that had taken place. 

“Take the turbolift up,” Finn instructed. “Floor 2 will be the Captain’s Quarters and Dignitary Suite.” Jess nodded and pressed the button for the second floor. 

The three infiltrators rode in silence until Darban spoke.

“The Apparatchik will have two guards stationed outside the door,” Darban said. “Four more guards inside, plus himself and his aide.”

“His whole entourage is guards?” Jess asked.

“Yes. He only travels with one dedicated aide. The rest of them are primarily security,” Darban said. “But even his aide is an excellent shot. If he gets the opportunity, he’ll fire on you.” 

“So the element of surprise is vital,” Finn said. “We can do that.”

“Darban, are any of them worth capturing?” Jess asked.

Darban shook his head. “Maybe the aide, but…the rest wouldn’t know anything valuable.” 

Jess looked over her shoulder at Finn, who gave her a solemn nod of understanding. 

“We’re gonna see if they let us in because of the uniforms, but if not…get ready to shoot,” Jess said.

“Copy that,” Finn said and checked his blaster. Jess rested her hand on her blaster at her side.

The turbo-lift stopped and chimed before the doors slid open. Jess took a deep breath and stepped out, Finn and Darban close behind her.

Just as Darban had said, two men that Jess recognized from Fallor’s entourage were standing guard outside of a door. Further down the hall, two Stormtroopers stood guard to what Jess assumed was the Captain’s Quarters, and at the end of the hall, two more Stormtroopers stood guard at what had to be the entrance to the bridge. 

“If it comes to it, I’ll worry about the Stormtroopers, you just get us through that door,” Finn whispered. 

Jess nodded sharply and continued down the hall before stopping in front of Fallor’s door.

“I need to speak with Apparatchik Fallor,” Jess said, imitating Niv’s Core Accent to the best of her ability. 

“Who are you?” the dark-skinned guard demanded.

“Does he pay you to ask questions? I’m a Corporal of the First Order and you’re on our ship. Now let me see him immediately,” Jess said sharply. From her peripheral vision, she could see the four Stormtroopers step towards them. “Do not make me ask you again.” 

The two guards looked at each other for a moment before the blond man spoke into his comm.

“Yeah, tell the boss that a Corporal wants to speak with him,” he said. 

Jess held her breath.

 _“Send them in,”_ the voice on the other end of the comm said. 

“You’re sure?” the blond guard asked.

 _“Boss says yes,”_ the voice confirmed. 

“Alright. We’ll send her right in,” the guard said and stowed his comm unit back in his belt. 

Jess let herself relax minutely. The Stormtroopers down the hall stepped back to their posts. 

The blond guard turned to unlock the door, but the other one stared intently at Jess. 

“I know your face,” he said.

“You’re on my ship, I’m sure you’ve seen me around,” Jess said calmly.

“No…it’s from somewhere else,” he said.

“Perhaps I have a doppelganger,” Jess replied. 

“Perhaps,” the guard agreed. The door behind him slid open.

“Excuse us,” Jess said coolly and stepped forward. They were almost through the door when a series of events happened in quick succession. 

“Wait—I know you,” he shouted at Darban and grabbed Jess’s arm, stopping her in her tracks. Finn stopped short of running into Jess and Darban stepped back quickly to avoid colliding with the Stormtrooper armor. 

The quick motion caused a bolt to fall from Darban's pocket and one of the Stormtroopers turned around and looked down to investigate.

"Halt! You there—Technician. Those aren't regulation boots," the Trooper said. "What is your ID number?" 

“He doesn't have one. Those are the wrong boots because he's not First Order," the guard growled. "He's the Apparatchik’s slave that was taken by the Resistance. None of them are First Order—they're imposters!”

The Stormtroopers turned back around and ran down the hall towards them.

“We were so close,” Finn muttered. “Darban, with me,” he said and turned to fire at the Stormtroopers. 

Jess yanked her arm out of the guard’s grasp and threw her shoulder into his sternum, pinning him against the doorframe. The blond guard keyed the door closed again, but before the doors could seal, Jess jammed her blaster between them. 

The pinned guard drew his blaster, but when he tried to aim, Jess grabbed his wrist and twisted it, pointing the weapon away from her and towards the other guard. A breath later, the weapon fired, killing the blonde man. Jess stepped away from the guard and dropped to the ground next to the fallen body. The dark-skinned guard stumbled as Jess drew the fallen man’s weapon and fired once to take the remaining guard down.

“So much for the element of surprise,” Jess said. “You two good?” 

“We’re good,” Finn said quickly. Jess glanced down the hallway, where the four Stormtroopers were lying dead on the floor. “Let’s move.” 

With their weapons still out, Jess twisted her blaster, forcing the doors to retract. The three of them entered the suite and swept the room. 

Jess fired twice, taking out two more guards, while Finn and Darban each took out one. 

“The room’s empty. Fallor’s not here,” Jess said.

Darban looked at the fallen bodies. “His aide isn’t here, either.”

Jess moved to the center of the room and swept it a second time. “How did he get away from us again?” 

“He couldn’t have,” Finn said. "He’s gotta be here somewhere.” 

“You’re right,” Jess nodded. “Check the adjoining rooms.” 

A sound from behind one of the couches drew their attention. Jess, Finn, and Darban all turned towards the source of the noise, blasters raised. 

“Don’t shoot me!” a young man said from behind the couch. 

“That’s his aide,” Darban told Jess.

“Darban, guard the door,” Jess ordered. 

Finn crossed the room and rounded the couch to grab the man by his shirt collar. “Where is he?”

“Where is who?” the aide asked.

“You know who,” Finn said, shoving the man against the wall. “Where is Fallor?”

The young man was on the verge of panicking. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just don’t kill—” 

A blaster shot rang out from one of the doorways. The aide let out a gasp before his eyes rolled back in his head and he sank to the floor, dead. Jess turned with her blaster raised towards where the shot had come from. 

Fallor stormed through the doorway and ran into Darban, shoving him to the ground. The Apparatchik kicked Darban in the stomach. When the young man curled in on himself, he let go of the blaster, which Fallor kicked out of reach before drawing a second blaster of his own. 

The Apparatchik pointed one blaster at Darban and one at Jess. “Stay down,” he growled at Darban before he turned to face Jess. “And you—drop the blaster and put your hands up.” 

Jess put the blaster on the table and slowly raised her hands, her eyes locked on Fallor and his blaster. 

“Put it down, Fallor!” Finn shouted from behind Jess, his blaster aimed at the disgraced Apparatchik. Fallor kept moving, though, until Jess was positioned between them and Finn didn’t have a clean shot.

Fallor chuckled. “What a surprise—finding you with my slave here, on this ship. And you…you’re not a Stormtrooper. Not anymore. You’re that traitor, aren’t you?”

“What’s it to you?” Finn said. Jess could hear him move to get a better shot at Fallor, but Fallor moved at the same time to keep Jess as a shield. 

“Me? I don’t care. But I’m sure the officers on this ship would be _very interested_ to know that you’re here.” 

“What do you want, Fallor?” Jess asked.

“This is all your fault,” Fallor said, stepping closer to Jess. “Me, being here with these…zealots. I’m not a First Order supporter, but how does that saying go? ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ And you, and by extension your Resistance, are my enemy, which makes these fanatics my friends, such as they are. Things were going just fine for me until _you_ spoke to me in that insult of a cafeteria.”

“Oh yeah?” Jess asked, her eyes not leaving the blaster in Fallor’s hand. “You think so?”

“I know so, _girl,_ ” he sneered. “Your General would have signed that trade agreement if you hadn’t gone and told her that I had a slave. And that agreement would have made me a very rich man. If that wasn’t enough for you, your General took my slave away from me!” he shouted. “And if that _still_ wasn’t enough, she contacted my homeworld—told them what I’d done.”

“I’m not clear on how this is all my fault. This all seems like things you did to yourself,” Jess said.

“Pava, shut up,” Finn said, his blaster still raised, trying to find his shot. “Fallor, you won’t get away with this.”

“I don’t want to ‘get away with this’. What good would it do me? I have been banned from returning to my home!”

“You can go home. You’ll just face charges,” Jess replied levelly. 

“I will not be treated like a criminal for doing what’s right!” Fallor shouted again.

“What’s right?” Jess scoffed. “For who?”

“For me!” He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down before he turned to look at Jess with cold eyes. “And I thought I told you before—you need to learn to respect your betters,” he sneered and pulled the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me every step of the way. I had my "must hit" points, but getting the stuff in between...ugh. I'm still not 100% happy with this chapter, but it gets the job done. (I'm like, 91% happy with it.)
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments/bookmarks/kudos/etc are the best!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

Poe figured he must look worse than he felt—which was saying something when he hadn’t slept in nearly three days and felt like hell—because after Jess and Finn had taken off, he’d gone to Kalonia and had managed to beg a stim off of her. Normally, she would have told him absolutely not and then offered a sleep aid tablet, but she must have felt particularly sorry for him today because she gave it to him with minimal fuss.

The initial rush from the shot after so many hours without rest was almost euphoric, which Poe knew meant that the comedown would suck. But the fifteen hours in between would be great. Previous experience told him that the stim would level him out in about ten minutes, so in the meantime, he decided to go shower and try to look something close to human _before_ he went to the General to accuse one of the highest-ranking members of the Resistance of treason. 

Again.

For the second time in less than six months.

Yeah, taking some time to level out definitely seemed like the best option.

 _Kriff, I better be right about this,_ Poe thought.

After his shower and change of clothes, the stim had leveled out in Poe’s system and he felt mostly human again. The euphoria had dissipated, leaving in its place the typical feeling of ‘ten hours of sleep and three solid meals’—at least, that was how his dad had always described the effects of a stim. Poe willfully ignored what he knew would be a terrible come-down in about fifteen hours. 

He glanced at his chrono—it was nearly 1100. Organa would be just about finished with her morning strategy meeting and Poe would be able to sneak in some facetime with her before she went to second meal. He stretched and checked what he’d laid out on his datapad once more. Satisfied with the intel he'd complied, he pocketed the device before leaving his room and heading for the General’s quarters. 

He was halfway there when he heard running feet behind him.

“Boss!” Iolo called. Poe turned to see his squadmate running after him. “Wait up!” 

Poe waited as Iolo jogged to catch up to him. 

“What’s up, Arana?” Poe asked.

Iolo looked him up and down. “You ok?” 

So maybe he felt better, but it didn’t necessarily mean he looked better. It was a stim, not a miracle. 

“I’m fine. What do you need?” Poe asked. 

Iolo sighed. “I just…I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. I was…I wasn’t my best on this mission and I took it out on you and everyone else. I recognize that I was acting out of character and that made me unreliable. Normally I’m good, but…it was Niv. We were racing a clock we had no control over and if he died, it felt like it would’ve been our fault that we didn’t get there in time. It,” he hesitated. “It felt like we were gonna lose him. Like we lost Muran. And L’ulo. And so many others with Starkiller and D’Qar and Crait and…I was scared. More scared than I’ve been in a really long time. Maybe ever.”

“I get it, Iolo,” Poe said, putting his hand on the other pilot’s shoulder. “He’s your best friend and wingman. And I was scared, too. I don’t want to lose anyone else.” 

“So are we good then?” Iolo asked hopefully. 

“Yeah, man. We’re good,” Poe said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Iolo smiled back. “I didn’t want you to think I’d been replaced by a Clawdite or something,” he tried to joke, but Poe didn’t laugh. He was distracted—his mind racing again. 

“Replaced…” Poe murmured to himself. A new theory was coming together in his mind.

“Boss?” Iolo frowned. “You ok?” 

“Iolo, who was the last pilot here to join before Hosnian?” Poe asked suddenly.

“Um…Rik Saren I think. Why?” Iolo asked.

“I need to find him. Have you seen him?” 

Iolo furrowed his brow in concentration and he shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not since last night. What’s going on?” 

“I’ll explain when we find Saren. Come on,” Poe said. The two pilots ran through the base, looking for the other pilot. The Twi’lek, however, proved difficult to find. 

Finally, Iolo and Poe ran into Ryta, who told them that Saren should be halfway through a Deep Space Monitoring shift in the Command Center. They took off toward the Command Center, where the Twi’lek was supposedly on duty. 

Once they entered the Command Center, the orange Twi’lek was easy to spot. 

Poe came up quietly behind the other pilot. “Rik,” he said softly.

“Poe?” Rik turned to face him. “Iolo? What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you,” Poe whispered urgently. 

“Now?”

“Yeah. Now.”

Rik nodded, seeming to understand the seriousness of Poe’s request. He stood and looked around, looking for a sub. “Ade, can you cover for me for a few?”

“Of course,” the young woman agreed and slipped into the vacated chair. 

“Great. I’ll be back,” Rik said. He followed the other two pilots out of the Command Center and down the hall to an empty conference room.

“What’s up, Poe?” Rik asked once the door had closed. “You’re acting…odd.”

Poe paced back and forth before he turned to face Rik. “Did you know Vice-Admiral Erach in the NRDF?” 

Rik thought for a second before he shook his head. “I don’t think so. If I did, I don’t remember him.” 

Poe turned to Iolo. “What about you?” he asked.

“No,” Iolo said. “But I think he was stationed off base when I was at the Academy. Why?”

“Do you know _anyone_ here who knew him before?” Poe pressed and started pacing again. 

Rik and Iolo looked at each other before Rik shook his head again. “Not off the top of my head. Why?”

“What’s going on, Poe?” Iolo asked. 

“How does no one know him? He’s a vice-admiral!” Poe muttered in frustration.

“The NRDF was big—even after Mon Mothma demilitarized, it wasn’t a small organization. No one could have known everyone,” Rik said.

“Plus, you recruited a lot of our pilots. If you didn’t know him, why would they?” Iolo added. 

“But _no one_ knows him or recognizes him. Even if I didn’t know their names, I recognized most of the Admirals and Vice-Admirals. And I don’t recognize him,” Poe said.

Rik grabbed Poe by the shoulder, stopping his pacing. “Poe—what is it?”

Poe chewed on his lower lip. “Any chance either of you still has an Officer Archive? One that hasn’t been updated since before Hosnian?” 

“Commander, what’s going on? You’re making me nervous,” Rik said. 

“Just answer the question. Do you have an old Officer Archive?” 

“No,” Iolo said. “I updated mine to…to see who survived.” 

“Rik?” Poe asked.

“I’m not sure,” the Twi’lek said. “Maybe in my quarters.”

“Go check. _Please_ ,” Poe said. 

Rik nodded. “Ok, I’ll be right back,” the Twi’lek said and disappeared out of the room. 

“Poe—what’s going on?” Iolo asked again as Poe paced the room.

“I’ll tell you when I know for sure. Just…wait until Rik gets back,” Poe said. A few minutes later, the other pilot returned, an old NRDF-issued datapad in his hands.

“I haven’t fired this up since Hosnian Prime…” he said, handing the datapad to Poe. “I told myself it was in case the NRDF pads were being tracked or monitored, but the truth is…it’s too many faces.” 

Poe nodded in understanding and took the datapad from Rik. He powered it up and opened the NRDF Officer Archive. An update window opened—a Post-Hosnian revision that would list all of the dead. Poe closed the window—he didn’t have the time nor was he in the right headspace to look at that. Plus, he wanted an unaltered file. 

“Poe…tell me what’s going on,” Rik said again. 

Poe scrolled through a sea of familiar faces—most of whom he knew the update would inform him were now dead—until he got to the E’s. 

“E’Chek, Edado, Elon, Emmatt,” Poe muttered to himself, “Erach, Dais. Gotcha.” He clicked on the name and a service record opened. 

Poe’s stomach dropped—his fears confirmed.

“What is it?” Rik asked, his concern palpable. 

Poe turned the datapad back toward Rik and Iolo. At the top of the service record was a picture of Dias Erach.

Rik frowned. “I’ve seen him before. That’s…”

“Vice-Admiral Dias Erach,” Poe said. “Last stationed on Hosnian Prime.” 

The photo looking back at them showed an older Valabri male with dark skin, white eyes, and spiky white hair trimmed close to his scalp. He was tall and broad—a far cry from the short and narrow human with pale skin and graying mousey brown hair they had been working with for months. 

“But if that’s Vice-Admiral Erach…” Iolo began.

“Then who’s been meeting with the General?” Rik asked.

“I don’t know, but we need to go— _now_ ,” Poe said. 

The three of them raced out the door and sprinted down the hallway towards the General’s quarters and her private offices and meeting room.

“How could someone hack the Archive?” Iolo asked. 

“After so many people died in the Hosnian Cataclysm, there would have been a huge data download,” Rik said. “When there’s that big of a data update…it wouldn’t take someone with a particularly advanced skillset to hack in and corrupt some data.” 

“You said the General is still in her morning meeting?” Poe asked. 

“With Erach and Okin and whoever else is serving as Command these days,” Rik confirmed. 

“Suralinda in there, too?” 

“I think so. And probably Connix. They weren’t in the Command Center,” Rik said as they turned a corner. The office was just at the end of the hall.

“Iolo, you get to the General. Make sure she’s alright and get her to safety,” Poe ordered. “Rik, you get Okin.”

Poe keyed the door open and ran into the meeting room, Rik and Iolo right on his heels. Inside the room were General Organa, the Vice-Admiral Erach imposter, Sargent Okin, Lieutenant Connix, and Suralinda, looking over a star chart. 

Organa looked up and frowned. “Poe? What is it?” she asked.

“What is the meaning of this?” Erach demanded, already on his feet. The man fell to the ground, knocking chairs over and sending pages of flimsi to the ground.

Poe walked around the table and punched the man in the face.

“Pick that up from Pava?” Rik muttered under his breath. 

“Dameron!” Suralinda shouted in surprise. 

Iolo sprinted around the table and put himself between Erach and the General. “General, are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine, Captain Arana. Commander Dameron, what are you thinking?” Organa asked. 

Poe pulled his blaster out of its holster and aimed it at Erach.

“Stay down. And keep your hands where I can see them,” Poe ordered. The man glowered at Poe, but complied as slowly raised his hands above his head. 

“Poe! Explain yourself this instant,” Organa demanded, now on her feet. Iolo kept himself between Organa and Erach but allowed the General to lean around him enough to see Poe. Rik had drawn his blaster as well and had it trained on the Vice-Admiral.

“I know my record isn’t great right now, General, but that’s not Vice-Admiral Dais Erach,” Poe said, indicating to the man on the floor. 

“He’s not?” Organa asked skeptically.

“This is,” Rik said, offering her the datapad. The General took it and looked at the screen. 

“Who is that?” Organa demanded. 

“Suralinda,” she said, waving the journalist over. “Do you recognize him?” 

She studied the image before she nodded. “Yeah. I never met him, but I definitely saw him around the Hosnian base. _This_ is Vice-Admiral Erach?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” Poe confirmed, his eyes never moving from the impostor. 

“How? We confirmed his identity on his arrival,” Connix said. “We checked it against the most up-to-date Officer Archive available.” 

“Right—you used the most up-to-date Archive. That means that it’s the one that was part of a massive data download from after the Hosnian Cataclysm. That’s my NRDF datapad—I haven’t updated it since before the attack,” Rik said. 

“With that big of a data download, it would be easy to slip in a little bit of corrupted data,” Iolo said. “And we have more than enough reason to believe that this man corrupted the data.” 

Suralinda pulled out her blaster and also aimed it at the fake Vice-Admiral. “Who are you?” she demanded. 

The man started laughing. “You desperate fools,” he sneered. “Once Hosnian Prime was gone, do you know how easy it was to alter that file? Change the photo, change the species—you barely even looked!”

“We’re looking now,” Organa said. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The impostor sneered. “You can’t do anything about this, Organa. Your Resistance is a failure.” 

“Who’s paying you?” Organa demanded.

The man barked a laugh but didn’t otherwise respond. 

“Connix, Suralinda, take the General and Sargent to a secure location. We’ll take care of the infestation,” Poe said. “Iolo, guard the door.”

“Yes, Sir,” Connix said. “Come on General, Sargent.” 

“Poe,” Organa said. “Whatever you do: don’t kill him. Put him in a cell. We’ll find a prison planet for him.” 

“Yes, Ma’am,” Poe nodded.

“And when you’re finished…find me. We need to talk,” Organa ordered.

Poe nodded again. “Of course.”

“Ma’am, this way,” Connix said and gestured for the door. Organa gave Poe one last look before she followed Connix out of the room.

As soon as they were alone, Poe turned back to the man on the floor. 

“Rik, keep your blaster on him,” Poe ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Rik said.

Poe holstered his blaster, sat back against the table, and crossed his arms over his chest, attempting to give off a casual but threatening demeanor. He looked down at the man on the floor. “So let’s try this again—who are you?” 

“Han Solo,” the man sneered. 

“You’re damn lucky you didn’t say that with the General in the room. I don’t think anyone could have stopped her from kicking your ass,” Poe said. “Give me your name.”

The man laughed. “Or what? What will _you_ do, Poe Dameron? Send me to prison? Big deal. The man who I’d be betraying? I know what he’ll do to me. But you…you’re Resistance—that means you’re one of the ‘good guys’ and ‘good guys’ have rules. So if I have to pick…I’ll take my chances with you.” 

Poe smirked. “Today is not the day to find out why I have rules.”

Emotions and feelings from the last few months began to boil over in Poe’s chest. Since Crait, his anger, frustration, doubt, fury, and shame had all mixed in a dark corner of his mind that he kept closed off and locked away—unwilling to let anyone see that darkness. But now, it was spilling over, feeding the overarching drive to not let this man get away with his crimes. He reached for that darkness and channeled it, letting this imposter bear the brunt of his rage.

Poe squatted down next to the man on the floor. “You might know my name, you might know who my parents are, hell—you might even know my fucking marks from the Academy. But there is so much you don’t know about me. You don’t know what I’ve lost. You don’t know what drives me. You don’t know where I’ve been or what I’ve done. I was raised by two Rebellion soldiers who would burn worlds for me and they instilled that same fire in my soul. You have no idea how far I’m willing to go to protect my people.” His voice was low and dangerous. “So whoever it is that you’re afraid of—let me promise you that they have _nothing_ on me.”

The man swallowed thickly. “I heard your general. You promised not to kill me.” 

“I don’t need to kill you to get what I want. I grew up on the Rim—killing you would be a kindness.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?” Poe sneered. “But you don’t know that. And are you willing to take that bet? I can be your saving grace and have you sent to a prison colony in the Core like the Fortress on Gandeal or I can be your worst nightmare and have you sent to one on the Rim. How do you feel about spending the next fifty years in the Chop Fields or on Dathomir? It’s up to you and how well you cooperate. So, I’m going to ask you one last time—what’s your name?” 

The man attempted to stare Poe down, but couldn’t hold Poe’s fiery gaze and looked away.

“Ithello Tretz,” he muttered.

“Ithello Tretz. Where you from, Tretz?” Poe’s voice was deadly calm. 

“Doesn’t matter.” 

“Humor me,” Poe said. 

“The Mid-RIm.” 

“Close enough. So…Ithello Tretz from the Mid-Rim…why don’t you tell me who you’re working for? Who scares you more than me?” 

Tretz shifted uncomfortably on the floor and glared up at Poe. “You already know.”

“Fallor, right? Or was it the First Order?” 

Tretz looked away. 

“Let’s make sure I have this right: you and Fallor corrupted the NRDF Officer Archive to plant yourself here as our ally. But really, you were here for a long con. You convinced General Organa that you were Vice-Admiral Erach and then you started manipulating things from the inside. You fed information to Fallor, telling him what we needed and what he should offer so that when he came, he would seem like an answer to a prayer. How am I doing so far?” Poe asked. 

Tretz didn’t answer. 

“I’ll take that as confirmation. So Fallor comes here with the intent of selling Organa on a trade alliance with Ord Mantell. The High Council has no idea, so you can pocket whatever fees Fallor and Organa agree to. Easy money, right? Only you didn’t count on him blowing the deal by bringing his slave with him. When Organa cut Fallor loose, you realized your opportunity to take advantage of the Resistance was gone. Hell, you probably reported the Ord Mantell High Council’s operative to Fallor and got him spaced in retaliation. But during your time here, you’d learned that Corulag was one of our best allies and that Magistrate Lek’s son, Niv, was one of our pilots. So when I needed to send out a pilot, you suggested Niv. It seemed innocent enough, right? And it was advice from a Vice-Admiral, so I did it. Once he was out, all you had to do was give his location to Fallor and let him do the dirty work.” 

“Fallor wasn’t supposed to risk the boy’s life,” Tretz said sharply.

“But he did. He locked Lek in an airtight cell and threatened his parents: if Corulag didn’t stop trading with the Resistance, he would kill their son,” Poe said. “That’s why you were so insistent that we didn’t send anyone after Niv. You didn’t want us to find out about your little…arrangement. But then Organa sent us out without telling you. So what did you do? You told Fallor we were coming. You tracked our ships and told him about our progress every step of the way: when we made it to Vestar, when we chased down Mindar, and when we jumped to Cantros. You gave him the forewarning he needed to get away before we could capture him.” 

“And what if I did?” Tretz spat back.

“Well, it’s treason, for one,” Rik supplied. 

Tretz sighed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” 

“I don’t care how it was supposed to happen—you lied to us, you manipulated us, and you nearly got one of my pilots killed. You’re going to prison for treason, so you might as well fill in the gaps. What I don’t understand is how the First Order fits into this. Did they finance you? Did you report to them as well? Do they know where our base is? And what about the Corulagan First Order Sympathizers that died on the prison ship. Were they your contingency plan to get Lek to the First Order?” 

“No,” Tretz said quietly. “They weren’t with us. At least—I didn’t know about them. You have to believe me: I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. I just was in it for the money. Fallor was only supposed to hold the Magistrate’s son for ransom, not threaten to kill him. That was all Fallor. He’s dangerous and will do whatever he has to so he can get what he wants. I thought I could control him, but I couldn’t. He went off book and I couldn’t get him back.”

“I don’t have to believe anything you say,” Poe said. “Not when you’re involved with the First Order.” 

“We don’t support the First Order. Not exactly.” 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Rik demanded. 

“I support whoever is in power,” Tretz said. “Because whoever’s in power is important. And people of importance control success and whoever is successful controls the money. And whoever has money…has power. It’s symbiotic, don’t you see? And nearly impossible to break into, so I associate myself with whoever has the best odds to win. Your Resistance? It’s failing. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. You were left for dead on Crait—not a single one of your allies on the Outer Rim answered your call.” 

Poe ignored the jab. “So, what?” He asked. “You figured by implanting yourself with us, you could turn us over to the First Order?” 

“No,” Tretz shook his head. “That was never our plan. But we knew you’d be desperate for allies after Hosnian Prime. And who better to negotiate with than a Mid-Rim World for trade and supplies and hyperlane safety? And then we’d have money and importance—two of the key components to succeeding in this galaxy.” 

Poe looked at the cowering man in disgust and stood back up. “Rik, call whoever’s on security. Let’s get this creep to a cell.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Rik said. He kept his blaster aimed at Tretz as he commed security.

“So what will you do with me?” Tretz asked. “Feed me to a sarlacc? Put me in a ship and send me into a black hole? Space me?” 

“No,” Poe said with a shake of his head. “That would be letting you off easy. No, I’m gonna make sure you live a long life on some barren prison planet. Without power, success, money, or importance. Without any of the things you value.”

A brief look of fear crossed Tretz’s face before he schooled his expression and sneered. “You’re a starfighter pilot—your kind are known for having notoriously short lives. And what prisons are even under your control anymore? The New Republic is gone.”

“You forget who our leader is. General Organa still has connections,” Poe said.

Tretz laughed. “Oh yes, Vader’s daughter. I’m sure she’s _very_ popular,” he taunted. 

“There’s a strange line between fear and respect,” Poe replied evenly, “and Leia Organa walks that line with ease. As far as most people are concerned, she drew the line.” 

Tretz scoffed. “You’re as delusional as she is. You’ve failed! Your Resistance has failed! Just look at yourselves: you’re barely a fraction of what you used to be, hiding in a decommissioned Imperial Base on a deserted planet, eking by an existence on the edge of the Outer Rim. You have no fuel left, a handful of ships, and rations for maybe another month. Can’t you see the writing on the walls? There is no hope left! It’s over. It’s over for the New Republic, for you, and for the Resistance. The First Order will win and everything you’ve done will have been for nothing.” 

Anger flashed through Poe’s mind, but before he said anything, a realization hit him: he was angry because this man had just given words to all of the rage and fear and shame that had been festering in his mind for months and Poe had _agreed_ with him on almost every point. But when Tretz had said that there was no hope left…he had disagreed. It wasn’t hopeless. He knew that. And all of the baggage he was carrying around wasn’t helping. So he decided to let it go.

Poe chuckled softly as resolve taking the place of the previous darkness. “You really haven’t been paying attention the whole time you’ve been here, have you?” he asked. “Organa always says ‘Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.’ I’m sure you’ve heard her say that.” 

“Empty words for fools like you,” Tretz said dismissively.

“No,” Poe shook his head. “They’re not empty. They remind us what we’re fighting for. And yeah, right now, it’s pretty bleak—the night is dark and we haven’t seen the sun in what feels like years. But dawn is coming. I have faith that the sun will rise again and that all we have done will have been worth it.” 

The door slid open to reveal Iolo and two Pathfinders: one human and one Rodian.

“Major Saren, we received your comm,” the human Pathfinder said.

“This man is under arrest for impersonating an NRDF officer and for treason against the Resistance,” Rik said.

The two newcomers glanced at each other. “Sir…that’s Vice-Admiral Erach,” the Rodian said.

“No, he’s not. His name is Ithello Tretz and he’s an imposter. He’s been posing as the Vice-Admiral since he arrived,” Rik said. “Ask the General if you’re unsure.” 

“We’ll take care of him,” the human said. The two Pathfinders rounded the table and hauled Tretz to his feet. 

“The General wants him alive,” Rik added. 

“Understood,” the Rodian nodded.

Poe watched indifferently as the Pathfinders patted Tretz down and cuffed his wrists behind his back. He didn’t turn to watch them lead the prisoner to the door. 

When he heard them stop at the keypad, Poe spoke. “Wait,” he said. The Pathfinders waited at the door for Poe to continue. “Your plan failed, Tretz,” he said before he turned to face the prisoner. “You never should have messed with the Resistance. Because you meant to hurt us, but you didn’t. Lek is back—he’s alive and he’s safe. And Pava…she’s going after Fallor. Maybe you haven’t been around long enough to know this, but Pava always gets her man. Fallor’s _hours_ are numbered,” Poe said threateningly. Tretz looked down at his feet. “And the Resistance hasn’t failed. We’ve been knocked down, but we get back up. Every time. Count on that.”

Tretz didn’t say anything. The Pathfinder keyed the door open and the two soldiers disappeared down the hall with the prisoner.

The conference room was quiet with Poe, Iolo, and Rik standing awkwardly on the far side of the table. The door hissed closed, breaking the silence.

“That was intense,” Rik said once the door had sealed. “Didn’t know you had that in you, Commander.” 

Poe chuckled. “Honestly, I stole a lot of that from one of Pava’s _Skywalker_ holovids. Don’t tell her that, though.” It wasn’t a total lie: he had taken his inspiration from the holovid as well as most of the threats, but the details that he claimed Tretz didn’t know and the darkness he’d let show…that was all him. Not that he would tell Rik that anytime soon.

“Oh yeah? Which one?” Rik asked with a grin.

“Um…I think it was _The Dark Tide._ The one that had that Jedi Corran Horn?”

Rik shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve seen that one.” 

“Oooh, that’s a good one,” Iolo said.

“Don’t let Pava know that, she’ll make you watch them all in order. But Horn is a total badass. Pilot, Rebel, Jedi—he’s awesome. He has some great speeches in it.” 

Iolo looked between them, his confusion evident. “I missed something big, didn’t I?”

“Kind of,” Poe said. “Nothing you need to worry about.” 

“I don’t believe you at all,” Iolo said with a laugh.

“Where did you say that Pava went?” Rik asked.

“She and Finn went after Fallor. They left this morning,” Poe answered.

“Where were they headed?” 

“Um…” Poe cleared his throat, “they were gonna fly towards Ryloth in realspace to try and get a comm to Fallor and then follow that if they could and would jump from there.”

“And you haven’t heard from them yet?” Rik continued.

Poe shook his head. He’d been ignoring his growing worries about them all morning. “Not yet.”

“They’ll be fine. I know they will be,” Iolo said, picking up on his nerves.

“I know,” Poe said with what he knew was a fake smile. “They’ve gotten into and out of tougher situations.”

“Often of their own design,” Rik said.

Poe forced a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”

The three men reset the room, leaving behind no trace of the scuffle that had taken place.

“I’d better get back to the Command Center before Ade thinks I’ve abandoned her for good,” Rik said.

“Yeah, thanks for your help, Rik,” Poe said.

“Taking out a threat to our General? Anytime,” Rik said with a sloppy salute before he turned and headed back to the Command Center.

“How’s Niv?” Poe asked Iolo.

“He’s alright. Kalonia’s keeping him sedated until he’s a little more healed up and she can be sure that the hypoxia didn’t do any damage to his brain, but things are looking good,” Iolo said. “I’m gonna head back to the medbay to check in on him, maybe give his parents a chance to get some caf or something. Wanna join?”

“I’ll stop by later. I need to go see the General,” Poe said.

“Gotcha,” Iolo agreed. An empathetic look crossed his face. “They’re gonna be ok, Boss.”

“I know,” Poe repeated. Iolo smiled once more and left for the medbay. Once he was out of earshot, Poe whispered, “They have to be.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, for as much as I struggled with the last chapter, I LOVED writing this chapter. I hope you guys love it, too. And really, angsty/dark Poe needed to make a (brief) appearance at some point. Especially after Jess called out is recent tendency to be over-cautious. We're doing some healing over here. 
> 
> Corran Horn is one of my favorite Jedi in Legends, so I wanted to give him a shout-out in the new canon. Props if you caught that reference. 
> 
> And I'm kind of (but not really) sorry that you don't get an immediate resolution to what's happening with Jess and Finn right now...patience, my friends.
> 
> (PS—Slight edits were made to Chapter 12, making me happier with it. VERY TINY EDITS. Nothing monumental and definitely doesn't matter to or change the story at all, but it made me happier. If you're curious and want to see what changed, start about where they're in the turbolift.)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her. You don't *need* to read the other stories in this series to read any of them (they can all stand-alone), but it might help make some things make more sense.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license (it's fanfiction, so creative license is the name of the game). Specifically, I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ and maybe a little between TLJ and TRoS, and the exact timing of the Poe Dameron comics is a little...loose. It's fine. There are lots of reference points to other Star Wars media (both Legends and Canon), so if you are curious, ask!
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

As soon as the blaster fired, Finn was in motion: diving over the couch, avoiding where Jess had fallen, and tackling Fallor to the floor. The two blasters clattered to the ground and slid out of reach. As soon as he had the Apparatchik pinned, Finn ripped off his helmet and frantically looked for Jess.

“Pava! Sit-rep!” he ordered. His eyes finally landed on Jess, who was cradling an injured Darban on her lap.

“I’m fine…but Darban’s hurt. He jumped in front of me,” Jess said. “He just—why did you do that?” she asked.

Finn wrestled the disgraced Apparatchik’s hands behind his back and locked them in binders. Once Fallor was restrained, Finn picked up the fallen blasters and crossed the room to Jess, leaving Fallor on the floor.

“How is he?” Finn asked, kneeling down next to her.

“It’s bad,” Jess said quietly, red blood already staining her hands and clothes. “But—maybe we can do something to help. Maybe if we get him back to the ship—”

“Jessika, it’s too late,” Darban said weakly. “We both know it.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” she said and pushed down on the wound to try and stop the blood flow. But the wound was too severe and there was too much blood. She knew it was a losing battle. “Not like this.”

“Jessika,” Darban smiled tiredly, “it’s okay.” 

“No, no it’s not,” Jess looked over to Finn. “Help me!” she begged.

“Jess…” Finn’s voice faded away. “He’s right. It’s too late and that wound is too severe. There’s nothing we can do—not without a full medbay and even then it wouldn’t be a certainty that they could save him.” 

She looked back at Darban. “You can’t die here. Not like this. You’re supposed to have a life after this. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve a happy ending. This…this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.”

“It’s okay, Jessika. Really,” he took her hand and pushed it away from his wound. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Liar,” Jess whispered. 

Darban smiled kindly. “Soon, I’ll be one with the Force. I will be with Isi and Jorde and any of my family that has passed before me and any that has yet to pass. And I’ll be with you. And that will be good. I’ll be home.” 

Jess wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

“That was never…” he clenched his jaw as a spasm of pain racked his body, “your job.” 

“Like hell it wasn’t,” Jess said quietly. 

“Jessika…” Darban gasped. “I can feel it. It won’t be long now. Will you stay with me?”

Jess clenched her jaw and nodded. “Until the end.” 

“I’m not scared,” Darban said quietly. “But I don’t want to be alone, either.” 

“You won’t be,” Jess swore. She took a deep breath to gain control of her emotions. The tears could wait: right now, her friend needed her. “Tell me about Fest.” 

Darban smiled softly, his eyes focused on a far-away place. “It’s cold there. And the snow falls eight months of the year. My village was at the base of a mountain, next to a stream and on the edge of a forest. I remember when the sun would shine through the ice—the ice particles would act like prisms and scatter rainbows all around. A riot of color in the trees—" he gasped in pain, his words cut short. 

“Tell me more,” Jess said, hoping to distract him from the pain of his body shutting down. 

“I remember…the color of everything is deeper and more vibrant than any place I’ve seen since. Trees greener than I can imagine and the sky…I’ve never seen a planet with such a blue sky,” he said softly, “or mountains so majestic. I haven’t been there since I was a child…but I know it’s true. I’m not creative enough to make up something so…so beautiful,” he sighed. 

“It sounds perfect,” Jess said softly. “Like a fairytale.”

The wound was bleeding more slowly now and there was more time between Darban’s breaths.

“Will…will you take me back?” Darban asked. “Back to Fest?”

“Yes,” Jess promised. “Yes, of course.” 

“Scatter my ashes in the forest. No place in particular…just somewhere…peaceful…” Darban’s eyes slid closed.

“Darban?” Jess asked quietly.

Darban sighed softly. “I’m still here.”

“You don’t have to fight anymore. You can go—I’ll take you home. I promise,” Jess said.

“Thank you,” he whispered, cracking his eyes open just enough to see her.

Jess let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “For what?”

“For being my friend,” he said so quietly and sincerely, Jess almost didn’t hear him. His eyes slid closed again and a moment later, his breathing stopped. The grip on Jess’s hand went lax and Darban’s arm fell to the floor. He was gone. 

“Tilbake til stjernestov, my friend,” Jess whispered. 

She wasn’t sure when Finn had moved in front of her. “I’ve got him, Jess. I’ve got him,” he said softly as he gently took Darban's body from her and picked him up. “Can you get Fallor?” 

Jess nodded, pulling herself back to the present. She snatched her blaster from the table and stormed over to where Fallor was lying on the ground.

“Get up,” she growled as she roughly hauled the man to his feet.

“Aaah! Easy,” Fallor shouted in pain. “Easy!”

“Easy?” Jess said, pressing the blaster to Fallor’s chest. “You think I should go easy on you?” 

The disgraced Apparatchik looked back at her in fear.

 _Good,_ Jess thought, _you should be afraid of me._

“Jess,” Finn said. “Not like this.” She looked over at him. She was so struck by the image of her friend, a former Stormtrooper, holding the body of a former slave so gently that it nearly broke her. “Not like this,” he repeated. 

Jess nodded. “You’re right,” she whispered before turning her attention back to Fallor. “You don’t deserve easy…but I won’t kill you. You deserve life in a prison colony—and not one you want to be at. You won’t go to Megalox. The Chop Fields on Karthon. The Valfin Labor Camps. Noctu. And I’ll make sure that happens,” she said, her voice dangerous. “Now move.”

Jess led the way out of the suite and down the hallway—the dead guards and Troopers still lying motionless on the floor. Neither she nor Finn said anything as they picked their way past the bodies. They were more than halfway to the turbolift when Finn stopped.

“Jess, wait,” Finn said. 

“What?” Jess demanded, turning enough to see him.

“We have what we came for,” Finn began, “but…we can’t just leave this ship out here. Not when we’ve managed to get this far undetected.” 

Jess chewed on her bottom lip before she nodded. “What do we do with him?” she gestured to Fallor. 

“There’s a maintenance closet in the Dignitary Suite. We’ll put him in there.”

“You will do no such thing!” Fallor huffed. “You should—”

“Shut up,” Jess said, pushing the blaster into Fallor’s side. “Show me where.” 

Finn brought them back to the suite and gently laid Darban’s body on the couch, covering him with a blanket. Jess swallowed thickly: if she didn’t know better, he could almost be sleeping. But he was too still, too pale, too…quiet to be asleep. 

“Where’s the closet?” Jess asked.

“Over here,” Finn gestured to a door on the wall. He tapped a code into the panel the door slid open. 

“So the body of that slave is left on the couch and I’m to wait with the mops?” Fallor scoffed. 

“Yep,” Jess said and pushed him inside. “Make yourself comfortable. We might be a while.”

The door slid shut and Finn locked it. 

“Will that hold him?” Jess asked.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Finn promised. “Come on—let’s take the bridge.” 

Finn kept talking as they made their way down the hallway. “There shouldn’t be more than a skeleton crew on the shift right now, so let’s clear it and figure out what they know and what they’ve sent out,” he said.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with,” Jess muttered. She could hear the bitterness in her voice and hated it, but she felt too apathetic to actually do anything about it. 

“Pava, did you hear what I said?” Finn asked.

“Go to the bridge and take it,” Jess said, her tone irritated. “Was there more?” 

Finn stopped her and turned her to face him. “Look—I know you’re sad and angry and…and fucking furious about what happened to Darban. And I get that, but it’s making you distracted and that’s not gonna work. I need you to keep it together until we get out of here, alright?” he said. “Get your head in the game. Can you do that?” 

Jess nodded. One thing that Jess had appreciated about Finn from the beginning was his candor—he told it like it was. And he had a point: she could mourn later. But here and now: she had a job to do.

“Sorry, you’re right.” She took a deep breath to re-center herself. “I’m here. I’m good.”

“Yeah?” Finn asked.

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. They continued down the hall. Finn stopped briefly outside of the Captain’s quarters and sabotaged the keypad and door. 

“So what do you think we can actually do about this from the bridge? Fallor’s been to our base, he knows where we are,” Jess said. “He’s probably already told them where to find us.” 

“See, I’m not so sure about that. Cause think about it: Fallor knows where we’re hidden, but this ship wasn’t headed towards Hypori. In fact, it was just stationed out here. Based on what we know about him, Fallor wouldn’t give information like our base’s whereabouts up without getting something in return. I don’t think he’s told the First Order where to find us yet because I don’t think they’ve given him what he wants. So we need to find out if the First Order is planning on giving it to him,” Finn said. 

“So…take the bridge, check the comms, check the memory banks, and see what we find?” Jess asked.

“Basically, yes. Like I was saying, it’ll be a skeleton crew at this hour, so four, maybe five people. In and out,” Finn said. 

“Alright. Lead the way,” Jess waved towards the bridge.

“You’re the Colonel, you need to lead,” Finn said. 

“Right. That. Ok,” Jess said and walked towards the door. Finn stepped ahead of her just long enough to key the door open and then fell back behind her. 

Just like Finn had predicted, there were only four people on the bridge and one more visible in the Ready Room.

“Colonel.” The helmsman jumped to his feet and saluted. 

“Lieutenant,” Jess said coolly, reminding herself of Finn’s instructions to act as if anyone below her in rank was unworthy of her time. 

“What are you doing here at this hour?” the helmsman asked. 

“Is that any of your business?” Jess asked. 

“No, ma’am. My apologies,” the lieutenant said. He frowned. “Ma’am, is that…blood on your uniform?” 

Jess hesitated. 

It was a mistake. Her momentary lapse had given the lieutenant’s rational mind a chance to catch up with his reflexive mind and he’d realized something was wrong. 

The lieutenant’s face morphed from a look of concern to a look of contempt. “You’re not the Colonel,” he said accusingly. “Commander! We have an imposter!” he shouted.

Finn fired his blaster, dropping the lieutenant to the ground. Jess hadn’t even heard him draw his weapon. She drew her blaster and fired twice, eliminating two more of the officers. Finn fired again, taking out the gunnery lieutenant at his station. Behind them, they heard a pneumatic door hiss. Finn turned and fired again, killing the Commander before he could lock himself away in the Ready Room. 

Jess went to clear the Ready Room, blaster raised. In the middle of the room, a comm was still connected and was displaying a blue holoimage. Jess skirted around the sending platform and crossed the room quickly to disabled the door connecting to the Captain’s Quarters, effectively locking the captain in their room.

“Commander Terik, report,” the holoimage shouted. “Blast it, Commander Terik, where are you? Report!”

Jess stepped closer to see who was on the other end of the call. It was a light-haired woman, Jess guessed in her forties, with a severe face. She was familiar, but Jess couldn’t place her. 

“Hello?” Jess said to the hologram as she stepped onto the sending platform. “Commander Terik isn’t available now…or ever again,” Jess said, looking at the body on the floor. “I’d say sorry but…I think that’s something to be considered when you join a military sect like this.” 

The blonde officer’s eyes narrowed. “You. I know your face.” 

Jess stared dumbfounded at the holoimage for half a second longer before she recognized the woman, schooled her expression, and smirked. “Oh shit. You’re still alive? Wow, you are far more hearty than I gave you credit for, Major Raffton.” 

“It’s Vice-Admiral now,” Raffton said.

“What is it with this week and corrupt Vice-Admirals?” Jess muttered under her breath as Raffton continued. 

“And to think,” the blonde woman smiled, “I thought I was rid of you months ago when Hosnian Prime paid for its crimes. But somehow this is even better. How the mighty have fallen: you left a weak and false government to join a terrorist group. Your parents must be so proud. Oh, wait…they’re dead, aren’t they?” 

A flash of anger raced through Jess, but she ignored the dig and held her tongue—she couldn’t let Raffton get under her skin. Or at least, she couldn’t let Raffton see if she _did_ manage to get to her. From the corner of her eye, Jess saw Finn approach. He’d removed his helmet and had a concerned look on his face. Jess gave him a low motion to stay out of view. 

“Yeah, they are dead, so I guess I’ll just have to seek your approval instead. Apologies for disappointing you. And congratulations on the promotion. Who says hard work doesn’t pay off? And you’ve climbed the ladder so quickly—way to crush the patriarchy. I’m so proud of you. Why don’t you tell me where you are and we can meet up? I’ll buy you a drink and we can rehash the last time we saw each other? You’ll tell me how disappointed you are and I’ll tell you how great you’re doing. Maybe we can have a rematch and I can kick your ass again?” Jess let all of her contempt bleed into her voice. 

“Jess, who is that?” Finn whispered from the doorway.

“Oh, is that Commander Dameron I hear?” Raffton sneered. “I heard that he got captured— _again.”_

“And he got away— _again,_ ” Jess replied. “Your security really leaves something to be desired, Vice-Admiral.” 

“I did hear about Dameron’s second escape,” Raffton said, glossing over Jess’s jab about security. “Seems that he only managed it with the help of some defective Stormtrooper that your lot has taken in like an abused anooba,” Raffton mocked. “I’ve read his file—he sounds like he came off the line with a crack in his chassis. We’re glad to be rid of a weakness like him.” 

Jess could practically feel Finn bristle at the comment. She shot him a quick look, warning him not to say anything and letting him know that she had it under control.

Raffton continued. “Dameron would have interrupted you by now, so it’s not him. Is it that traitorous Stormtrooper who’s with you?” 

“Not sure who you’re talking about,” Jess replied. “The Resistance welcomes anyone who wants to stand up to the oppression of the First Order, no matter their past. Enough about me, though. How about you? Still hanging around that Hugs guy?”

“General Hux is an inspired leader! He will take the First Order to new hei—"

“Look, Raffton,” Jess interrupted her, “it’s been great catching up with you, but it kind of sounds like you’re about to give me a recruitment speech about the First Order or maybe a monologue like some holovid villain and, quite frankly, I just don’t have the time. Hux gave it to me before and, I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t impressed then and haven’t been impressed since. Plus, I have things to do, places to be, a ship to destroy—a Rebel’s work is never done,” she said with a lopsided grin. “But again, congrats on that promotion—I’m sure the way you ran away from me on the _Revenant_ helped so much. Or do you not tell that story?” 

“Clever words, Captain Pava. But you were always quick-witted, weren’t you? The pilot who always have a plan in mind. I suppose it’s a must for someone who managed to take down a Star Destroyer with just one ally, even if it was incomplete and understaffed. I assume your intentions here are the same: to destroy this ship and everyone on it, yes? I know it’s third shift, so most of the Troopers are asleep in their bunks, completely unaware that you’re about to kill them. A loss of 120 means little to the First Order, but what does it mean for your morals?” 

“My morals?” Jess repeated. 

“Everyone in the Resistance: you think of yourselves as the good guys, don’t you? That’s your narrative. Or is it just Leia Organa’s? Doesn't matter really. You're the 'good guys'. At least, that’s what you tell yourselves. But how can you do what you do and not be morally corrupt? This will be the second major ship you’ve destroyed that _I_ know about. Who says there aren’t more? Think of all of the people you’ve killed just by destroying these ships. Not to mention any TIE pilots or ground troops you’ve killed in your X-Wing. And weren’t you also a part of the attack on Starkiller Base? Your body count must be astronomical. So I want to know: what’s your line? Killing one man? Ten? A hundred? I know you’ll destroy a ship, but would you destroy a planet? Where would you stop? Where do you become no better than your enemy?” Raffton asked. 

“Everyone I’ve killed has been a part of the First Order,” Jess said. “I haven’t committed genocide against five peaceful planets to make a point.” 

Raffton smiled cruelly. “We’re the same, you know: the First Order and the Resistance. Both groups knew that the New Republic wasn’t working, so we stepped in to do something about it. But I want to know: do you truly believe that the ends justify your means? Or is that just what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night? I know that you like to think that you ‘play fair’—is that what you think sets you apart? Tell me honestly: what truly separates you from me? Your morality? Your goals? Because from where I’m standing: they look very similar to mine. And if I’m the 'bad guy’ in your story, maybe you should look in the mirror. You might not like what you see.”

Jess felt a shiver run down her spine. Somehow, Raffton had managed to land a blow that rattled her from hundreds of parsecs away. 

“Maybe you’re right,” Jess allowed. “Maybe we’re not so different. But what does separate us is our understandings of each other’s morality. You take my morality to mean that there are lines that I won’t cross no matter what. And I know that there isn’t a line you wouldn’t cross. Usually, you’d be right: there are lines I won’t cross. But I know that sometimes those lines have to be crossed. You haven’t seen me since that Star Destroyer over Arkanis—when I was still hopeful that the NRDF would _do something_ about the First Order. But they didn’t. And because of that, I’ve learned that not making a choice is still making a choice. What good is morality if the end result is still slavery and death? So I’ll make the hard choices because I know what happens if someone doesn’t. What's your goal here, Raffton? Why do _you_ fight?” 

“Our goal is _order_ , Captain. What do a few slaves or deaths mean in the big picture of the galaxy?” Raffton said. She hesitated for a moment and smirked. “You really do look so good in our uniform.” 

Jess ignored the jab. “The war isn’t over. I guess we’ll find out what separates us in the end,” Jess said as levelly as she could. “And while I’d love to stay and debate philosophy with you, I have work to do.”

“I’ll find you, Captain Pava. And not just you—but everyone you care about. And when I do that…you’ll beg for mercy, but the only mercy you’ll receive will be death,” Raffton threatened. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Jess replied shortly and cut off the comm. 

“So…who the fuck was that?” Finn asked. 

“Vice-Admiral Raffton. She captured Poe on Arkanis while I was still at the Academy,” Jess said. “We might have butted heads a little.” 

“A little? Jess, that woman just threatened everyone in your life.” 

“Has to find them first,” Jess said. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” She passed Finn and headed back onto the bridge. “What do you need me to do?”

“We’re talking about that later,” Finn said. 

“I’m sure you’ll tell Poe, too. Fine, whatever—we’ll talk later. What do you need me to do?” she repeated. 

Finn sighed. “Check that station. It should give you access to the ship’s mainframe.” He indicated to one of the consoles before he holstered his weapon and moved to another station across the bridge.

“Got it,” Jess said. She grabbed the code cylinder off of the fallen officer and used it to log into the system, looking for anything that Fallor might have given them. 

“Kriff,” Jess muttered.

“What is it?” Finn asked.

“It doesn’t look like they’ve agreed to give Fallor anything yet—but they’ve already linked to his ship and downloaded the hard drive. Whatever he had to give them, it’s too late: the First Order has it,” Jess said.

“Maybe not,” Finn said, typing on his console. 

“Why not?” Jess asked. 

“Assuming they pulled his entire memory bank, a data dump that size would be way too big to send via message. And it would take a long time for them to go through it to find the relevant information and then interpret it. Based on the fuel consumption, they haven’t returned to the fleet. It looks like the data they took from Fallor’s ship is still on this ship.” 

“You’re sure?”

“Pretty. Give me a minute to be positive,” Finn said and turned back to the console. “What’s Fallor’s encryption look like?”

“Um…” Jess looked back at the console and let out a low whistle. “It’s heavy. It would take someone with some serious skill to get through this. I’m not seeing any evidence that they’ve even made a dent. We might actually be ok here.”

“Could you slice it?” Finn asked. 

“Me? Given enough time…maybe? Niv could probably take care of it in a matter of hours,” Jess said. 

“Most people in the First Order aren’t taught that kind of slicing,” Finn said. “It’s a highly specialized skill. My guess is that they were waiting to see if they could work something out with Fallor so he’d just give them the encryption key, but in case he didn’t, they stored the data and would have a slicer go at it once they rejoined the fleet.” 

“So no messages?”

Finn typed a few more commands into the console. “Nope. Doesn’t look like any data has gone out. And if they haven’t cracked the encryption, the CO wouldn’t have been able to share intel via voice or vidcomm with Raffton, either.” 

Jess felt the tension she didn’t know she was holding release from her jaw. “Alright. That’s good news. But it definitely means we can’t let this ship get back to the First Order fleet.”

Finn moved to a nav station and pulled up a star chart. “We’re less than a parsec from the Red Nebula. We could put the ship on autopilot and have it jump in ten minutes. Send it right into the nebula and it should disappear forever.”

Jess crossed the bridge to look at the star chart. Finn was right—the Red Nebula was close and would be an easy solution to the cruiser-sized problem under her feet. But she hesitated: Raffton’s taunts were still echoing in her head. The woman had managed to get under her skin after all and Jess knew that she was in no place to unpack that right now.

“Ignore what that woman said. If we don’t do this, everyone we care about will be dead,” Finn said as if reading her mind. “J, there are no good options in war,” he added quietly. 

“I know,” Jess nodded. “Let’s do it. But I think we should take a souvenir first.” She walked back to the previous station, pulled her multitool out of her pocket, and crawled underneath the console. 

“What are you doing?” Finn asked. Jess didn’t respond. “Jess! What are you doing?” 

She crawled back out from underneath the console and held up a black box. “Hard drive.” 

“That’ll be erased as soon as we leave the ship. There will be an electromagnetic field designed to wipe their equipment and stop it from being disconnected and taken—exactly what you’re trying to do,” Finn said.

“Not with a faraday cage.” 

“Oh, and you just keep one of those around?” 

“No, but the science is simple enough. I’m sure I can make one with stuff I find around here,” Jess said. “I’m gonna look around, see what I can find. You wanna get the autopilot set?” 

Finn nodded and turned back to the console. Jess dug through cabinets and popped open panels, looking for enough loose conductive material to wrap around the hard drive. She also grabbed any code cylinders she saw off of the fallen bridge officers. The data might be bad by the time they got it back to base, but she wasn’t going to leave that to chance. Eventually, she found enough malleable metal sheeting to cover the drive.

“Done,” Finn announced. 

“Me, too,” Jess said and held up the protected drive. “How much time do we have?” 

“Twelve minutes. We have to be intentional, but it should be enough time to get Fallor and Darban, get to the ship, and get out of here.” 

“Sounds good. Let’s go,” Jess agreed. Finn slipped the helmet back on and they left the bridge.

Once the door to the bridge slid closed behind them, Finn destroyed the keypad. It wouldn’t stop someone from _ever_ getting in, but it would run the clock down to the point that no one would be able to get onto the bridge in time to stop the jump. That done, the two Resistance fighters collected Fallor and Darban from the Dignitary Suite and continued to their ship. 

“Get in,” Jess said and pushed Fallor into the turbolift. 

The older man turned and glared at her. “This is outrageous! I demand—”

“Will you just shut up, man?” Jess cut him off. “We don’t care what you have to say or what you’re offended by. Be glad we didn’t kill you here.” 

“Your General—”

“Told us to take you out with extreme prejudice,” jess interrupted him again. “So I really don’t care what you have to say.” 

Fallor looked affronted. “Surely someone from your Command would speak out against killing me.”

“Oh, you mean the Vice-Admiral?” Jess asked with a smirk. “Yeah, we figured him out, too.” 

Fallor eyes darted back and forth from Jess’s face to Finn’s mask, as if hoping to see some kind of deception. Jess made sure her expression was as blank as Finn’s Stormtrooper helmet. Fallor huffed and turned back to face forward, his shoulders more hunched than they had been before. 

The rest of the ride on the turbolift was silent, but Jess could feel anxiety prickling at the back of her neck. Cognitively, she knew that the anxiety was a symptom of exhaustion, Darban’s death, and Raffton’s words worming their way into her brain, but that knowledge didn’t stop the response. She tried to focus on the mission and push the anxiety to a corner of her mind, which kind of worked, but not as effectively as she’d hoped it would. She took a steadying breath—Finn was counting on her to be sharp, and so she would be sharp. She was a starfighter pilot after all, and there was no room for failure in her profession. Even when she knew she wasn’t at her best, she would push through to make herself _be_ her best. 

They didn’t run into any more Stormtroopers the rest of the way back to the hangar—a small relief to Jess’s nerves. Finn led the way across the hangar and up the ramp of the _Jeweled Empress_ before he stopped short at the top of the ramp and Jess nearly ran into him. 

“What is it?” Jess asked.

“That,” Finn said, nodding towards the two unconscious bodies on the floor of the main cabin. 

“Right—we have guests,” Jess groaned, looking down at the two prone figures.

“Kinda forgot about them,” Finn said. “We’ll secure Fallor and put Darban in the bunk room before we take care of these guys.” 

“Where should we put him?” Jess asked, nodding to the bound man.

“Garbage chute?” Finn joked weakly.

“We don’t have one,” Jess replied seriously.

“I know. Um…the hold will work,” Finn said. “I’ll lay Darban down and come help you.”

“I’ve got it,” Jess said and shoved Fallor towards the hold. She keyed the door open and forced Fallor into the room. The groundcrew on Hana Base had cleared it of all cargo, leaving an empty room that would work perfectly as a makeshift brig.

Jess looked around the room for a way to secure Fallor. Her eyes landed on one of the durasteel rigging loops on the far wall. 

“Come on,” she said and pushed him towards the wall. 

“What are you doing?” Fallor demanded.

Jess didn’t reply until they reached the wall. “Sit,” she said, pushing the man down.

“How dare you treat me this way,” Fallor said as Jess unlocked one of his wrists from the binders. She fed the cuff through the rigging loop and closed it again around Fallor’s wrist, imprisoning him to the wall.

“Hope you like the accommodations,” Jess said and turned to leave the man in the hold. “Only the best for one of my ‘betters’, as you’d say.” She smirked. “Guess I am learning after all, huh?” 

Fallor glared at Jess. “You can’t treat me like this. I am a very import—”

Jess had heard enough. She drew her blaster and shot Fallor.

“Jess!” Finn gaped at her from the doorway.

“What?” Jess shrugged. “It was set to stun.” 

“I told you to wait for me,” Finn said.

Jess shrugged and stepped out of the hold, locking the door behind her. “It’s done. Come on, let’s get this First Order trash off of our ship.” 

Jess knew she was being harsher to Finn than he deserved—he rarely, if ever deserved her attitude. And on some level, she was mad at herself for taking it out on him and would apologize later, but right then, she was too angry to react rationally. 

She didn’t speak as she and Finn took the unconscious Stormtrooper and Colonel off of their ship. As they set the Colonel down on the floor, a klaxon began to sound. 

“Ok—they’re figuring it out,” Finn said. “We’ve gotta go.” 

“Took them long enough,” Jess muttered.

Finn flashed a hint of a grin. “Go get the ship prepped. I’m gonna go get the blast doors open,” he said and ran towards the console before Jess could stop him. Not that she would have. She ran up the ramp and into the cockpit, her fingers already flying over the console and preparing the ship for flight before she’d fully sat down in the pilot’s seat. 

Flying felt good—flying meant she didn’t have to think about what she had done or would do. She didn’t have to think about the past or the future when she was in the cockpit—and she didn’t have to think about Darban or Fallor or Raffton, or anyone else. Flying meant that her mind would be occupied with checklists and calculations and maneuvers. She wouldn’t be able to think about anything besides that exact moment. Her experiences had taught her how to push everything aside when flying, no matter the circumstances. In her cockpit—nothing else mattered. She was always at her best when she was up in the black.

Heavy footsteps ran back up the ramp and then the ramp hissed closed. Jess listened as the footsteps made their way to the cockpit. 

“Blast doors are open,” Finn said, dropping into the copilot seat.

“You’re still in the armor,” Jess said. She’d seen him ditch the helmet when they’d first gotten on board. 

“I’ll change when we’re clear,” Finn replied shortly. “What do you need?” 

“Get the weapons online. I’m hopeful we’ll get away clean, but if not, I’d rather not be caught unarmed,” Jess said, finishing the pre-flight checks. “Alright—buckle up, cause we’re out of here.” 

Jess lifted the ship off of the hangar floor and shot out into the black—admittedly going faster than was strictly necessary. As soon as they were clear of the hangar, the cannon fire began. It looked like less than half of the guns were currently operating—probably only those who had managed to get their doors open. 

“Jess—”

“I see them,” Jess said, turning the ship in a tight curve back towards the cruiser. “I’m gonna get you as close as possible. Take out as many of those guns as you can.” 

“Copy that,” Finn said and turned back to his console. A beeping to his right drew his attention.

“What’s beeping?” Jess asked, her eyes not leaving the cruiser in front of them.

“Proximity alert. TIEs inbound,” Finn reported. “Looks like four.” 

“Ok, yeah, I see ‘em,” Jess said and spun the ship in a corkscrew. “I’ll get you in position.”

Finn turned on the target-assist and focused his fire on the incoming TIEs. He shot two down and a third was demolished by one of the panels from a destroyed TIE flying into it. Finn tracked the final TIE fighter’s flight path and waited until the ship crossed in front of his sights. He pulled the trigger and the ship exploded in a bright fireball. 

“Good shot,” Jess said. “Coming back around. Let’s see if we can’t get rid of a few of those cannons before it disappears. Just in case.”

“Roger that,” Finn said.

Jess arced the light freighter back towards the row of cannons and flew along the port side of the cruiser. There were twenty laser cannons on the ship, ten on each side, and each with a dedicated gunner. Most of those gunners, however, seemed to still be trapped in the barracks. Finn targeted and fired, taking out weapon station after weapon station. 

Jess looped around the front of the _Abaddon_ and brought them down along the starboard side of the vessel, giving Finn a shot at the other side’s weapons. 

“Ok, Jess—I think we should clear out. We don’t want to get caught in the wake of their jump,” Finn said.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Jess said and soared past the open landing bay. Two more TIEs were prepping for launch as Finn fired a torpedo at Fallor’s ship. The shot found its mark and destroyed the entire hangar. 

Jess flew their ship away from the doomed cruiser, not looking back until she was sure they were at a safe distance. Only when she was positive they were far enough away did she turn and watch as the _Abaddon_ snapped into hyperspace, headed towards the Red Nebula.

There was a small, less than 1% chance that the First Order ship would hit one of the pockets of survivable space, but there were two far more likely scenarios. The first was that the ship wouldn’t ever fully reemerge from hyperspace—at least, not as anything recognizable as a ship. The other was that if the cruiser did reemerge from hyperspace, it would do so in the middle of a deadly meteor field that would destroy them in a matter of minutes.

Either way, the odds were very firmly against the _Abaddon._

“You ok, Pava?” Finn asked softly.

Jess tried to nod but knew Finn saw right through her.

 _Whatever,_ she thought. _I don’t need him right now._

In the back of her mind, she could hear Dr. Rhyder’s deep voice, asking, _“Why are you distancing yourself? Is it because you actually want space? Because you think you deserve it? Or because you think you’re doing someone else a favor by staying away?”_

She’d always hated when he asked that. Especially because she usually hated her answer to the question. He'd then tell her that isolating herself like that was a self-destructive trait, to which she’d quipped back with some sarcastic remark. Then he’d grin and tell her that now she was masking her discomfort with a coping mechanism. She’d flip him off at that point and he’d laugh, which would make her laugh.

Jess had seen a number of psytechs since joining the NRDF—some because it had been mandated and some voluntarily, but she hadn’t clicked with any of them like she had with David Rhyder. He saw through her bullshit like no one else ever had and he never hesitated to call her on it. But he did it in a way that made her feel like he genuinely cared about her. And he laughed and liked to made her laugh.

Jess closed her eyes and leaned her head back. What she wouldn’t give to talk to him again.

Fuck. She missed Rhyder. She hadn't let herself think about everyone who had been lost, but now she couldn't get him out of her mind. And after a week like this week—she desperately wanted to talk to him.

“Jess?” Finn tried again.

Jess opened her eyes and looked at Finn with a weak smile. She wasn’t ready to be totally honest with where her head was, but she wouldn’t let herself self-isolate, either. Either way, she was pretty sure that Rhyder would be proud of her. _“Baby steps,”_ he’d say. Inevitably, she’d roll her eyes. And then he’d laugh.

“I’ll be fine, Troopa,” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “Let’s go home.”

She turned to her console initiated the jump sequence to Hypori.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

They snapped into hyperspace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so...thoughts?
> 
> We get some grief, we get a blast from the past, we get some anger...it's basically a Jessika Pava emotion storm. 
> 
> And I'm really sorry if you loved Darban. He was a good guy. (Also—do we know if blaster wounds bleed? I'm saying they do.)
> 
> SO! I have an 'intensive training' (safety things so we don't accidentally hurt/kill/maim/etc our guests) for my job for the next week and am not 100% sure what those hours are going to look like. WHICH MEANS that Chapter 15 might take a little longer to get to you. I swear, I'm not abandoning or forgetting about this story because Chapter 15 might be my favorite chapter I've ever written in any of my stories (and we're talking about nearly 80 chapters at this point). 
> 
> A quick hint about Chapter 15: it has lots of General Organa. You'll wanna stick around. 
> 
> Also--I think back in the notes of like, Chapter 1, I said that I thought this would be shorter? That was obviously a joke. This will be at least 80k, maybe 85k. Depends on how much Leia wants to talk. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments/kudos/bookmarks/etc make my day. :)


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